Mitchum had his first, unbilled, role, at the age of eight in the
Western Colorado Territory (1949) with
Joel McCrea,
Virginia Mayo, and
Dorothy Malone. His credited debut was in
Thunder Road (1958), in which he played his father's much younger brother, a role written for
Elvis Presley, who was eager to do it until his manager demanded too much money. The film became a drive-in cult favorite, revived in the 1970s and ’80s. Mitchum was again credited as being "introduced" in the
Have Gun Will Travel flashback episode "Genesis" (season 6, episode 1, 1962). He appeared in more than 30 films including
The Beat Generation in 1959;
The Victors in 1963; as a surfer named Eskimo in
Ride the Wild Surf in 1964; ''
In Harm's Way (1965) with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Henry Fonda. He also had a credited supporting role in The Money Trap'' (1965), where he played a police detective. The film starred Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer, Rita Hayworth and Joseph Cotten. In 1964 Mitchum had the lead in a
Spaghetti Western,
Grand Canyon Massacre; the following year was
Ambush Bay (1966) with
Hugh O'Brian and
Mickey Rooney, in which he received third billing of three names above the title. He played the villain in
The Invincible Six (1970), then appeared in
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971); and
The Last Movie (1971). In 1975, he returned to lead roles when he starred as Grady Hagg in the movie
Moonrunners, the premise of which was later redeveloped into the television series
The Dukes of Hazzard. He was also in
Zebra Force and
Trackdown co-starring
Karen Lamm and
Erik Estrada in 1976;
The Ransom (a. k. a.
Assault on Paradise) (1977);
Blackout (1978);
Monstroid (1980); ''
(1982); Code Name Zebra
(1987); Hollywood Cop
(1987); Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989); and Fatal Mission'' (1990). ==References==