He went on to win two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for playing Ben Bradlee in All the President's Men (1976), and Dashiell Hammett in Julia (1977).

Later interviews with Robards suggested that the trauma of his parents' divorce, which occurred during his grade-school years, greatly affected his personality and world view.

The teenage Robards excelled in athletics, running a 4:18-mile during his junior year at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles.

)[citation needed] Although his prowess in sports attracted interest from several universities, Robards decided to enlist in the United States Navy upon his graduation in 1940.

[citation needed] Following the completion of recruit training and radio school, Robards was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Northampton in 1941 as a radioman 3rd class.

[5] Northampton was later directed into the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II's Pacific theater, where she participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

[citation needed] Two years later, in November 1944, Robards was radioman aboard the light cruiser USS Nashville, the flagship for the invasion of Mindoro in the northern Philippines.

With this damage and 223 casualties, Nashville was forced to return to Pearl Harbor and then to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, for repairs.

[citation needed] Robards served honorably during the war, but was not a recipient of the U.S. Navy Cross,[6][7] contrary to what has been reported in numerous sources.

[8] Aboard Nashville, Robards first found a copy of Eugene O'Neill's play Strange Interlude in the ship's library.

He made his Broadway debut in the popular hit Stalag 17, joining the cast during its run; Robards also worked as an assistant stage manager.

Robards also began getting roles in some television dramas, such as episodes of The Magnavox Theatre, Mama, The Man Behind the Badge, The Big Story, Philco Television Playhouse (including Gore Vidal's "The Death of Billy the Kid"), Armstrong Circle Theatre, Appointment with Adventure, Justice, Star Tonight and Goodyear Playhouse.

Robards' big break was landing the starring role in José Quintero's 1956 off Broadway theatre revival production - and the later 1960 television film - of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, portraying the philosophical salesman Hickey; he won an Obie Award for his stage performance.

[12] Robards continued to be busy on television, guest starring in The Alcoa Hour, Seven Lively Arts, Studio One and Omnibus.

After his Broadway success, Robards was invited to make his feature film debut in the Anatole Litvak directed drama The Journey (1959) starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr.

[13] It only had a short run but the Lillian Hellman play Toys in the Attic (1960), where Robards acted opposite Maureen Stapleton and Irene Worth, ran 456 performances.

[14] Robards starred in the TV version of For Whom the Bell Tolls for Playhouse 90, Billy Budd for The Dupont Show of the Month, A Doll's House, and The Iceman Cometh.

Roberts was also in Eugene O'Neil's Hughie (1964) directed by Quintero In films, Robards played Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1964) for television and Murray Burns in the comedy-drama A Thousand Clowns (1965) repeating his stage performance, for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

His films included Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966), a comedy Western, and Any Wednesday (1966), an adaptation of a popular Broadway hit.

In 1967 Robards portrayed Doc Holliday in the western film Hour of the Gun and played Al Capone in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

[22] That year he also acted in the William Friedkin directed musical comedy The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and the biographical drama Isadora.

He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, denying Network a chance to sweep all four acting categories (something only Humphrey Bogart had done previously).

Robards appeared in the lead role of James Tyrone Sr., in a 1988 production of Long Day's Journey into Night directed by Quintero.

For television Robards did Sakharov (1984), The Atlanta Child Murders (1984), The Long Hot Summer (1985), Johnny Bull (1986), The Last Frontier (1986), Laguna Heat (1987), Breaking Home Ties (1987), Inherit the Wind (1988) and The Christmas Wife (1988).

(1988) directed by Arvin Brown, Love Letters (1990) with Colleen Dewhurst, Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (1991) by Israel Horowitz, as well as Harold Pinter's No Man's Land (1994).

[citation needed] In 1989 he acted in the Ron Howard directed comedy-drama Parenthood starring Steve Martin and Dianne Wiest and the British drama Reunion with a screenplay by Harold Pinter.

The following year he acted in the crime comedy Quick Change starring Bill Murray, Geena Davis, and Randy Quaid.

He also played the role of Ulysses S. Grant in The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) and supplied the Union General's voice in the PBS miniseries The Civil War (1990).

In 1972, Robards was seriously injured in an automobile crash when he drove his car into the side of a mountain on a winding California road, requiring extensive surgery and facial reconstruction.

Robards received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in the television film Inherit the Wind (1988).