Christopher Mitchum (born October 16, 1943) is an American film actor, screenwriter, and businessman. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of film star
Robert Mitchum[1] and Dorothy Mitchum. He is the younger brother of actor
James Mitchum.
Film career
Mitchum appeared in more than 60 films in 14 countries. He appeared with
John Wayne[1] in the motion pictures Chisum (1970), Rio Lobo (1970), and Big Jake (1971). He was cited by
Box Office magazine as one of the top five stars of the future and the recipient of
Photoplay's Gold Medal Award for 1972. He won both The
Golden Horse Award (1981) and The Golden Reel, Best Actor award (1988, Indonesia). He has been a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1978. He was the
Screen Actors Guild national first vice president, in 1987–89 and a member of the SAG board of directors, in 1983–89.
Personal life
Mitchum married Cynthia "Cindy" Davis in 1964. Together, they had children
Bentley, Carrie, Jennifer, and Kian before divorcing in 1996. For four years in the 1990s, Mitchum was father-in-law to Carrie's husband,
Casper Van Dien. Mitchum is the grandfather of Cappy Van Dien,
Grace Van Dien, Allexanne Mitchum, Carrington Mitchum, and Wyatt Mitchum Cardone.
Mitchum has run once for the
California State Assembly (35th District), and twice for the U.S. House of Representatives (California's 24th District). Since January 1, 2011, under California law, candidates are voter-nominated for state and federal offices; political parties cannot nominate candidates for office.[2]
California Assembly
In 1998, Mitchum was the
Republican nominee in the general election for the California State Assembly in the
35th district, which included portions of
Santa Barbara and
Ventura Counties, where he served on the Republican Central Committee (1998–2000). His opponents were Democrat
Hannah-Beth Jackson and
Natural Law Party candidate Eric Dahl. Mitchum came in second behind Jackson with 44.5 percent of the vote to Jackson's 53 percent.
In 2014, Mitchum ran again for the U.S. congressional seat held by Representative Capps. He won the
June 3, 2014, primary (running alongside four other Republicans, two additional Democrats, and an Independent candidate), coming in second behind Capps with 15.8 percent of the vote, and narrowly defeating Republican Justin Fareed by slightly over 600 votes.[4] In the November 4 general election, Mitchum received 48.1 percent of the vote to Capps's 51.9 percent, in the closest race of Capps's entire congressional career.[5][6]
Despite the close margin by which Mitchum lost to Capps, as well as the announcement that Capps would retire in 2016, Mitchum ultimately declined a third run for the same seat again, and instead endorsed Assemblyman
Katcho Achadjian for the race to succeed Capps.[7]