Roberts Blossom

Roberts Blossom
Roberts Blossom in 2010
Born	Roberts Scott Blossom (1924-03-25)March 25, 1924 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	July 8, 2011(2011-07-08) (aged 87) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Natural causes
Occupation(s)	Actor, poet
Years active	1958-2000
Spouse(s)	Beverly Schmidt Blossom (m.1966-1970; divorced; 1 child) Marilyn Orshan (m.?-1982; her death; 1 child)
Children	Deborah Blossom Michael Blossom

Roberts Scott Blossom (March 25, 1924 – July 8, 2011) was an American theater, film and television actor and poet. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged. He is also remembered for his supporting roles in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Escape from Alcatraz.

Early life

Roberts Scott Blossom was born in 1924 in New Haven, Connecticut to John Blossom, an athletic director at Yale University. He was raised in Cleveland but later moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio. He attended Hawken School and graduated from Asheville School in 1941 and attended Harvard University for a year until he joined the Army and served in World War II in Europe. He trained as a therapist and later decided to be an actor, and began directing and acting in productions at Karamu House and The Candlelight Theater in Cleveland and later moved to New York, where he supported himself by bundling feathers for hats and he practiced a disputed therapy called Dianetics. He also waited tables until he became a full-time actor.

Career

Blossom began acting on stage during the 1950s. He won three Obie Awards for his performances in the off-Broadway plays Village Wooing (1955), which was his debut, Do Not Pass Go (1965) and The Ice Age (1976). During the 1960s, he formed Filmstage, a multimedia avant garde theatrical troupe. His Broadway credits include Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Operation Sidewinder and in 1988 he appeared in Peter Brook's production of The Cherry Orchard.

Blossom began appearing on screen in 1958. His first appearance in a feature film was in 1971's The Hospital starring George C. Scott. During the seventies he had roles in films including The Great Gatsby (1974) starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Escape from Alcatraz (1979) starring Clint Eastwood. Escape from Alcatraz is perhaps Blossom's best known supporting role for the scene where he chopped off his fingers with an axe. Blossom is remembered for his role as Ezra Cobb in the 1974 horror film Deranged based on American murderer Ed Gein. Blossom is also known for starring in the 1983 horror movie Christine, a film directed by John Carpenter which is an adaptation of the book by Stephen King. He is best known for his role in the 1990 film Home Alone, in which he played Old Man Marley alongside Macaulay Culkin. He appeared in his final film role in 1995 alongside Sharon Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Quick and The Dead (1995). Blossom's other film credits include Doc Hollywood (1991) starring Michael J. Fox; Reuben, Reuben (1983); Resurrection (1980) starring Ellen Burstyn; Flashpoint (1984); Vision Quest (1985) starring Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino; and Always (1989).

Blossom made his first television appearance in 1958 in the television series Naked City. From 1976 to 1978, he starred on the television soap opera Another World, in which his role on the show won him a Soapy Award for Best Villain. His other television credits include Moonlighting, with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis, Tales from the Darkside, The Equalizer, the revived eighties version of The Twilight Zone and Chicago Hope. His television films include John Brown's Raid, Family Reunion, with Bette Davis, the 1985 version of Noon Wine, Murder in the Heartland and Disney's Balloon Farm, which was his final role as an actor.

In 2000, Blossom appeared in the biography documentary Full Blossom: The Life of Poet/Actor Roberts Blossom, in which he talked about his life as an actor and poet. The documentary also featured his children Debbie and Michael, his first wife Beverly, and Edward Asner, Peter Brook and Robert Frank.

Personal life

Blossom was formerly married to Beverly Schmidt Blossom, with whom he had a son, Michael. He was later married to Marylin Orshan Blossom until her death in 1982, with whom he had a daughter, Deborah Blossom.

After Blossom retired from acting in the late nineties, he moved to Berkeley, California and spent his time writing poetry. He later moved to Santa Monica, California where he died in 2011.

Death

Blossom died on July 8, 2011 at the age of 87 of natural causes. He was residing in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California at the time of his death.

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Director
The Hospital	1971	Guernsey	Arthur Hiller
Slaughterhouse-five	1972	Wild Bob Cody	George Roy Hill
Please Stand By	1972	Judge Nott	Jack Milton; Joanna Milton
Deranged	1974	Ezra Cobb	Alan Ormsby; Jeff Gillen
The Great Gatsby	1974	Mr. Gatz	Jack Clayton
Handle with Care	1977	Papa Thermodyne	Jonathan Demme
Close Encounters of the Third Kind	1977	Farmer	Steven Spielberg
Escape from Alcatraz	1979	Doc	Don Siegel
Resurrection	1980	John Harper	Daniel Petrie
Christine	1983	George LeBay	John Carpenter
Reuben, Reuben	1983	Frank Spofford	Robert Ellis Miller
Flashpoint	1984	Amarillo	William Tannen
Vision Quest	1985	Grandpa	Harold Becker
Candy Mountain	1988	Archie	Robert Frank; Rudy Wurlitzer
The Last Temptation of Christ	1988	Aged Master	Martin Scorsese
Always	1989	Dave	Steven Spielberg
Home Alone	1990	Old Man Marley	Chris Columbus
Death Falls	1991	Hals Johnson	June Samson
Doc Hollywood	1991	Judge Evans	Michael Caton-Jones
The Quick and the Dead	1995	Doc Wallace	Sam Raimi

Television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Naked City	1958	Quint Butcher	Episode: "And a Merry Christmas to the Force on Patrol"
The Art Carney Show	1959	Simon Stimson
Camera Three	1959	Himself	Episode: "The Eagle, the Tiger and the Fly"
John Brown's Raid	1960	Stevens	Television film
The DuPont Show of the Month	1959–1961	Gustav	Episodes: "Billy Budd", "The Prisoner of Zenda"
Brenner	1964	Reader	Episode: "Charlie Paradise: The Tragic Flute"
The Defenders	1964	Thomas Riggs	Episode: "Go Between"
Great Performances	1972	Judge/Preacher	Episode: "The Rimers of Eldritch"
Beacon Hill	1975	D.W Griffith	Episode: "The Test"
Another World	1976–1978	Bert Ordway/Sven Petersen	Soapy Award for Best Villian (1978)
Mourning Becomes Electra	1978	Seth	Mini-series
ABC Weekend Special	1980	Mr. LeGrand	Episodes: "The Gold Bug: Parts 1 & 2"
Family Reunion	1981	Phil King	Television film
The Wall	1982	Kuchaski	Television film
Johnny Belinda	1982	John McAdam	Television film
Noon Wine	1985	Mr. McClellan	Television film
Amazing Stories	1985	Opa Globe	Episode: "Ghost Train"
Moonlighting	1986	Lawrence Everette	Episode: "Witness for the Execution"
Tales from the Darkside	1986	Inquisitor	Episode: "Heretic"
The Equalizer	1986	Oscar Peabody	Episode: "Tip on a Sure Thing"
At Mother's Request	1987	Doug Steele	Television film
Stingray	1987	Uncle Pat 'The Cat' Morel	Episode: "Bring Me the Hand That Hit Me"
The Twilight Zone	1985–1987	The Man/Mordecai Hawkline	Episodes: "The Burning Man", "Song of the Younger World"
In the Heat of the Night	1989	Dr. Harris Pendleton	Episode: "Tear Down the Walls"
Northern Exposure	1992	Ned	Episode: "Cicely"
The Habitation of Dragons	1992	Mr. Charlie	Television film
Crossroads	1992	Oscar Poland	Episode: "Pilot"
Murder in the Heartland	1993	Gus Meyer	Mini-series
The American Clock	1993	Old Wayne Taylor	Television film
Chicago Hope	1997	William Kronk	Episode: "Hope Against Hope"
Balloon Farm	1999	Weasel Mayfield	Television film

Short films

• The Sins of Jesus (1961)
• The Witches of Salem: The Horror and the Hope ... Gov. Phips (1972)

Documentary

• Full Blossom: The Life of Poet/Actor Roberts Blossom ... Himself (2000)

Theater credits

• 1955: Village Wooing
• 1958: The Infernal Machine (Anubis)
• 1961: A Cook for Mr. General (Kroy)
• 1963: The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Merlie Ryan)
• 1964: The Physicists
• 1965: Do Not Pass Go
• 1970: Operation Sidewinder
• 1973: Statis Quo Vadis (Mr.Elgin)
• 1988: The Cherry Orchard

External links

• Roberts Blossom at IMDb
• Roberts Blossom at the Internet Broadway Database
• Roberts Blossom at AllMovie
• Roberts Blossom at Find a Grave