Biography
John Mitchum was an American character actor who appeared in film and television from the 1940s to the 1990s. The younger brother of actor Robert Mitchum, he was credited early in his career as Jack Mitchum. He served in the United States Army during the Second World War.
Mitchum had small parts in numerous films and appeared in around 800 television episodes. He is best known for playing the friendly Inspector Frank DiGiorgio in the first three Dirty Harry films: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973) and The Enforcer (1976). He also appeared in several other Clint Eastwood films, including High Plains Drifter (1973) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and worked with his brother in projects such as The Way West (1967).
Mitchum was also a musician and poet; John Wayne recorded several of his patriotic poems on the 1973 album America, Why I Love Her. He died in Los Angeles in 2001.
