Robert Beatty graduated with a B.A. from the University of Toronto and
started in amateur dramatics with the Hamilton Player's Guild. For a
while, he made a living as a cashier for a gas and fuel company. In
order to further hone his acting skills, he made his way to London in
1936 (on the advice of
Leslie Howard) to train for acting
at RADA. He made his theatrical debut in "Idiot's Delight" at the
Apollo, and from there obtained regular work on both stage and screen
in bit parts and walk-ons, eventually making his breakthrough on radio
as a broadcaster for the BBC. He was famously on hand, reporting
eyewitness accounts of the London Blitz for the Overseas News Service
during the war years.
On the strength of this, Beatty was promoted to more substantial film
roles, beginning with
San Demetrio (1943),
in which he played a brash, alcoholic American sailor mellowed by his
good-natured British crewmates in the best 'stiff-upper-lip' tradition.
This seemed to set the tone for his future screen personae, for he was
henceforth typecast as tough, down-to-earth Canadians or Americans,
many of them cops or gumshoes in low budget potboilers. That
notwithstanding, he had his share of quality assignments as well,
notably as loyal friend to IRA fugitive James Mason in
Ausgestoßen (1947); as a plausible
Lord Beaverbrook in
Der wunderbare Flimmerkasten (1951); as Lieutenant
William Bush, best friend and second-in-command to
Gregory Peck's
Des Königs Admiral (1951);
and as a washed-out heavyweight prizefighter in
Jim, der letzte Sieger (1953).
Throughout his career, Beatty's stock-in-trade was masculinity,
dependability and forthrightness.
Immensely popular on radio, Beatty provided the voice for private eye
Philip Odell in a long-running series for the BBC "Light Programme"
between 1947 and 1961. From the late 1950's, he also became
increasingly prolific on television and as a narrator of documentaries.
If his face was not yet recognisable enough, he appeared in commercials
for a hair care product. For two years, Beatty starred in his own
half-hour series, London 999 (1958),
as a Canadian mountie seconded to Scotland Yard. On the big screen he
was cast as Dr. Ralph Halvorsen in
Stanley Kubrick's
2001 - Odyssee im Weltraum (1968).
Towards the end of his lengthy career, he gave one of his finest
performances, a thoroughly convincing impersonation of President
Ronald Reagan in the
documentary-drama
Breakthrough at Reykjavik (1987).
