Today Would Have Been The 87th Birthday Of The Great Actor, Robert Walker; But, Tragically, It Has Now Been Over 54 Years Since His Untimely Death!

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One of my all time favorite actors is Robert Walker (born 13 October 1918 in Salt Lake City, Utah; died 28 August 1951 in Los Angeles, California). Robert was a charming man and a very talented actor who created some of the most memorable film performances in Hollywood history. He was truly marvelous as the young "romantic lead," encountering difficulties and overcoming obstacles on the road to "movie happiness," in several of his films. He was brilliant as the "villain" in one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films, "Strangers on a Train." And he more than "held his own" in the supporting roles he played in films staring Spencer Tracy and/or Katharine Hepburn!

In short, Robert Walker had become a major Hollywood star by the time he was in his late twenties. Furthermore, Walker's acting career was achieving levels of true greatness, and was very much still "on the rise," by the time he was just thirty two years old. Tragically, though, Robert Walker's wonderful movie career was cut short at the peak of his powers when he accidentally died one and one-half months before his 33rd birthday. Bob died at his home in Pacific Palisades due to adverse reactions caused by a "sedative" which was administered to him by his personal doctor who was making a house call.

About two years previously, Robert Walker had received treatments (that had been paid for by the movie studio to which he was under contract) for what seems to have been a mild form of schizophrenia. Bob's illness was diagnosed, at the time, as something that could theoretically become aggravated by stress, or by moderate to heavy levels of alcohol consumption. After a time, it became a virtual routine for Bob's doctors to prescribe "sedatives" for him whenever he became overly "agitated" emotionally.

Walker's illness, or "condition," such as it was, was troubling to the movie studio bosses because it caused Robert (who was normally quite a pleasant person) to get into arguments or even the occasional bout of fisticuffs in the evenings when he was in some public restaurant or bar and had consumed a few too many drinks. He was arrested on one such evening and, as the result of an ensuing dispute with the policemen, unpleasant newspaper photos of him were published in the following days, all across the country.

On the day of his death, Bob was visited at his home by one of his closest friends, a man named Jim Henaghan. Bob's friend showed up at the house shortly after the doctor had arrived for his "house call" (possibly in response to a phone call from Bob's housekeeper who may have been worried about the perceived level of Walker's “emotional agitation.” When Jim arrived, he noticed Bob sitting calmly, playing cards with the housekeeper. It did not appear to Jim that Bob had been drinking or that anything was especially out of the ordinary.

However, Robert Walker's personal doctor was present and was proposing to give the sedative shot to Bob so that he could rest in bed for the next few hours. The doctor asked Jim to assist him in helping to get Bob to go to bed. But when the two of them suggested to Bob that he accept the sedative and turn in for an extended nap, Bob resisted and stated that he did not wish to be "sedated." Bob went out the front door of his house, and stood in his yard, still claiming that he did not need, nor did he desire any sedative.

Trying to be of assistance to the doctor, and believing that he was acting in Robert Walker's best interests, Jim picked up Bob by grabbing him around the waist, and carried him back into the house. Jim placed Bob onto his bed, and proceeded to hold him down, despite Bob's objections, while Bob's doctor prepared the sedative mixture for the injection.

On this particular house call to Bob's home, Robert Walker's doctor happened to have been accompanied by one of his professional associates, another doctor. Both of the doctors apparently agreed that sodium amytal was the correct sedative to use, and both apparently agreed that the dosage of seven and one-half grains was appropriate, even though three to four grains was the more common dosage for that drug. However, after his doctor gave him the injection, Robert Walker stopped breathing almost immediately and was not able to be revived by either of the two doctors present, nor could he be helped by the ambulance paramedics who were immediately called, nor by the third doctor who Jim raced out to fetch and forcibly drag back to Walker’s house.

After his death, an autopsy was never performed on Robert Walker because of the presence of the two doctors, and of Jim, and the housekeeper at the time of the injection; however, the Coroner’s Autopsy Surgeon in the case did confirm that, in his opinion, a dosage of 15 grains of that particular drug would have been required before a lethal level of toxicity would have been reached. So, a dose of seven and one-half grains probably shouldn’t have had the effect it did.

The death of Robert Walker is one of those celebrity deaths that will always be slightly veiled in mystery, and over which people will shake their heads in consternation for generations to come; but the two facts which will never be doubted in anyone's mind are what a terrible tragedy his untimely death was, and what a tremendous loss his passing was to the history of motion pictures—especially to all those future, “unmade” films that might have been!

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--Spencer