Robert Arthur; Films Were Big at Box Office

Robert Arthur, who made mules talk, accountants smile and some film critics groan, died Tuesday in his Beverly Hills home after a long illness.

The veteran producer of more than two dozen highly profitable motion pictures--most of them at Universal--was 76 and his work ranged from “Buck Privates Come Home,” which resurrected the dormant careers of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in 1947, to “One More Train to Rob,” a Western comedy released in 1971.

In between were feature comedies starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and Arthur’s most singular contribution to the film genre, “Francis,” a talking mule who embarrassed Donald O’Connor with his caustic comments through the original picture and six sequels.

Plenty of Profit

If the critics were as sarcastic as the mule itself, officials at Universal were ecstatic at the profits the pictures turned at a time when television was making inroads into studio profits.

With those films and “Lover Come Back,” “That Touch of Mink,” “Father Goose” and “Operation Petticoat,” Arthur became one of the top money producers in the industry.

Arthur was born in New York and worked as an oil industry executive before joining Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer as a screenwriter in 1937.

During World War II he helped produce briefing films for the Army Air Force.

His first postwar assignment at Universal was “Buck Privates,” which brought Abbott and Costello back before the public after some earlier film failures.

Arthur was also the first to use Blake Edwards as a feature film director with “The Perfect Furlough” in 1958.

Happy in One Studio

A few years before he retired he was asked why he had spent so much of his career at Universal when so many other successful producers were shifting between studios.

He recalled that his agent, Lew Wasserman, had once lined up a deal for him at MGM but he declined, saying he “liked the people at Universal and that was more important than anything else.”

Wasserman, now chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MCA Inc., which sits on the site of the old Universal Studios, remembered Arthur as “a true professional, a fine man and good friend. His associates at Universal will miss his talents and his warmth.”

Arthur is survived by his wife, Goldie, and his brother, Sid. There will be no services.