From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Robert Harmon is an American film and television director. He is best known for the 1986 horror classic The Hitcher, starring Rutger Hauer, as well as for films like They and Nowhere to Run. His television work is distinguished by the series of made-for-TV movies featuring fictional Paradise (Mass.) Police Chief Jesse Stone, which began with 2005's Stone Cold, starring Tom Selleck, as well as the Emmy-nominated biopics Ike: Countdown to D-Day (also starring Selleck) and Gotti, starring Armand Assante.