Obituary: Obituary: Robert Mitchum

I was surprised that in your obituary of Robert Mitchum [by Gilbert Adair and Tom Vallance, 3 July], you neglected to mention his record career, writes Bruce Thompson.

He composed and recorded "Ballad of Thunder Road" in 1958, which made the American Billboard Top 100 in a mid- sixties position and reached that position again, four years later, in 1962. He also cut a wonderful LP of calypso tunes in 1958.

He heard Charlie Walker's version of "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me" and cut a version himself, under the production eye of the late Bill Justis (with sidemen Floyd Cramer, Boots Randolf and Jerry Read, amongst others). Mitchum's version is the top-selling country-and-western version so far (Dean Martin's being the top-selling pop version). This stimulated Monument records in the United States to cut a further LP in 1967 which included a new version of "Ballad of Thunder Road" and a wonderful version of "Little White Lies".