Robert Mulligan, the famous personality who received the Oscar nomination to direct “To Kill a Mockingbird”, died on Friday due to heart disease. The popular man died at his home in Connecticut. He was 83 years old. Highly renowned for his sensitivity and diffident nature towards the players, Robert has directed five actors in the performances of Oscar nominations, including Mary Badham and Gregory Peck in his Mockingbird, Ellen Burstyn, Ruth Gordon and Natalie Wood in Same Time, Next Year; Inside Daisy Clover and Love with the Proper Stranger respectively. Peck also won the Oscars for a lead role in Mockingbird as Atticus Finch as an attorney.
Richard Mulligan, Robert’s older brother, earned stripes in the live TV, New York, 1950s on productions like Playhouse 90 and Studio One before actually turning into a film director in the year 1957 with the famous Fear Strikes Out. Robert, apart from being a great director, was also well known for putting his efforts with the screenwriters in order to shape a cinematic storyline. He also had a merger with the popular Alan J. Pakula, the one who served like a great producer for all the early films of Mulligan, starting with the Fear Strikes Out all the way to The Stalking Moon, 1969.
This brilliant director was born on 23rd August, 1925 in New York. Robert worked at New York Times before actually entering the Fordham University, while he achieved success in literature and journalism. He also became the very first student to get enrolled in the radio department of the school. Robert Mulligan excelled in live TV milieu, helming the projects like Billy Budd, The Bridge of San Luis Rey and The Moon and Sixpence. Robert has also directed various stage plays, including the Comes a Day.
