Robert Downey Sr.

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Robert John Downey Sr. (born Robert Elias Jr.; June 24, 1935) is a retired American actor, writer, and cinematographer, as well as the father and namesake of actor Robert Downey Jr. Putney Swope, a satire on Madison Avenue's advertising industry, is known for writing and directing the underground film Putney Swope.

Downey Sr.'s films during the 1960s were "strictly take-no-prisoners affairs, with little funds and a bizarre parody, effectively pushing the countercultural trend of the day," according to film historian Wheeler Dixon.

Early life

Robert John Elias Jr. was born in New York City's Manhattan borough of Downey on June 24, 1936. He was the son of Elizabeth (née McLauchlen), a model, and Robert John Elias, a hotel and restaurant manager who worked in operations. His paternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews, while his mother was half Hungarian Jewish and half Irish. He grew up in Rockville, New York. When he wanted to enlist in the United States Army but was underage, he changed his surname to Downey (after his stepfather, James Downey). Downey later said he wrote an unpublished book during his army service, but he spent significant time in the stockade.

Personal life and death

Downey was married three times. His first marriage was to actress Elsie Ann Ford (1934-2014), with whom he had two children: actress-writer Allyson (born 1963) and actor Robert Jr. (born 1965). In 1975, the marriage was ended in divorce. Laura Ernst's second marriage, to actress-writer Laura Ernst, lasted until her death on January 27, 1994, as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Rosemary Rogers, humorist and co-author of Saints Preserve Us, married him in 1998. And other books. They lived in New York City. On July 7, 2021, thirteen days after his 85th birthday, Downey died of complications from Parkinson's disease in his sleep at his Manhattan home.

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Career

Downey made his name by making basement budget, independent films aligning with the Absurdist movement, the first American settlers came of age in counter culture anti-establishment 1960s America. His work in the late 1960s and 1970s was a classic anti-establishment, reflecting the diffusion of nonconformity in larger counterculture movements and gave rise to new freedoms in film, including the breakdown of codes on censorship. His 1970s films were entirely made on shoestring funds and were relatively unknown in the Absurdist movement, despite culture's notoriety.

Downey began writing and directing low-budget 16mm films in 1961, starting with Ball's Bluff (1961), a romantic short about a Civil War soldier who awakened in Central Park in 1961. With the surrealistic Greaser's Palace (1972), he began to filmmaking. Rittenhouse Square (2005), a documentary about life in a Philadelphia park, was his last film.

The films of Downey were mainly family affairs. His first wife appears in four of his films (Chafed Elbows, Pound, Greaser's Palace, Moment to Sense), as well as co-writing one (Moment to Moment). Both mother Allyson and son Robert Downey Jr. made their film debuts in the 1970 film Pound at the ages of 7 and 5, respectively; Allyson would appear in one more film directed by her father, Up the Academy. Robert Jr.'s lengthy acting resume includes appearances in eight films directed by his father (Pound, Greaser's Palace, Moment to Time, Up the Academy, Too Much Sun, Hugo Pool), as well as two acting appearances in films in which his father was also an actor (Johnny Be Good, Hail Caesar).

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