Additional information
by John Mitchum (Author)
"Anyone that's a Robert Mitchum fan: Man! You've got to find this book by Mitchum's brother, John...a hilarious book about their lives together..."
- Jim Jarmusch, director of 'Dead Man' featuring Robert Mitchum, 'Down By Law, ' 'Father Mother Sister Brother'
From boyhood to Hollywood, they remained Them Ornery Mitchum Boys....
Them Ornery Mitchum Boys is a vivid, no-holds-barred memoir by actor and raconteur John Mitchum, chronicling the extraordinary lives he and his older brother, movie legend Robert Mitchum, forged from hardscrabble beginnings to Hollywood immortality.
First published in 1989 and now proudly reintroduced by Henry Gray Publishing, the book captures a vanished America: Depression-era childhoods marked by tragedy, mischief, bare-knuckle fights, and restless wanderings across the country by freight train. Long before movie cameras found them, the Mitchum boys were already living larger-than-life adventures - surviving farm disasters, scrapes with the law, and the hard lessons of growing up fast.
As Robert Mitchum becomes one of cinema's most iconic stars, John follows his own path as a respected character actor, singer, and writer. Together, they navigate war, fame, temptation, loyalty, and loss, meeting a gallery of unforgettable figures along the way - from John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe to Clint Eastwood and countless unsung Hollywood craftsmen.
What sets this memoir apart is its voice: raw, funny, generous, and unvarnished. John Mitchum doesn't polish the rough edges. He embraces them. The result is a deeply human portrait of two brothers bound by blood, trouble, and love.
For fans of classic cinema, American memoir, and true stories that read like tall tales but carry the weight of lived experience, Them Ornery Mitchum Boys is an essential rediscovery - a funny, gritty, and deeply human chronicle of two lives lived full throttle.
