Film Noir Directors

1. Franklin Adreon

Franklin Adreon was born on November 18, 1902 in Gambrills, Maryland, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955), King of the Carnival (1955) and Cyborg 2087 (1966). He died on September 10, 1979 in Ventura County, California, USA.

2. Robert Aldrich

Director | Emperor of the North Pole

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early ...

3. Lewis Allen

Director | The 20th Century-Fox Hour

Born in England on Christmas Day, 1905, Lewis Allen first came on the show-biz scene when he was appointed executive in charge of West End and Broadway stage productions for famed impresario Gilbert Miller. Allen also co-directed some of the productions (including the celebrated "Victoria Regina" ...

4. George Archainbaud

Director | One Week of Love

French-born (Paris) George Archainbaud got his start in show business as an actor and stage manager in France. Emigrating to the US in 1915, he got work as an assistant director to fellow French expatriate Emile Chautard at William A. Brady's World Film Co. in Fort Lee, NJ. His directorial debut ...

5. Jack Arnold

Director | Creature from the Black Lagoon

Jack Arnold reigns supreme as one of the great directors of 1950s science-fiction features. His films are distinguished by moody black and white cinematography, solid acting, smart, thoughtful scripts, snappy pacing, a genuine heartfelt enthusiasm for the genre and plenty of eerie atmosphere.

Arnold...

6. William Asher

Director | Bewitched

William Asher was born on August 8, 1921 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Bewitched (1964), Fireball 500 (1966) and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). He was married to Meredith Coffin, Joyce Bulifant, Elizabeth Montgomery and Danni Sue Nolan. He died ...

7. John H. Auer

Producer | Moonlight Masquerade

Born in Hungary and educated in Vienna, John H. Auer was an actor in European films from the age of 12. After his career as a child actor ended, he entered the business world, but soon decided to rejoin the film industry. He journeyed to Hollywood in 1928 to find work as a director, but came up ...

8. Roy Ward Baker

Director | A Night to Remember

Roy Ward Baker's first job in films was as a teaboy at the Gainsborough Studios in London, England, but within three years he was working as an assistant director. During World War II, he worked in the Army Kinematograph Unit under Eric Ambler, a writer and film producer, who, after the war, gave ...

9. Burt Balaban

Producer | Murder, Inc.

Burt Balaban was born on March 6, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Murder, Inc. (1960), The Venusian (1954) and High Hell (1958). He died on October 14, 1965.

10. Richard L. Bare

Director | 77 Sunset Strip

Richard L. Bare was born on August 12, 1913 in Turlock, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for 77 Sunset Strip (1958), The Islanders (1960) and I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew (1969). He was married to Gloria Jean Bailey, Jeanne Evans, Julie Van Zandt, Phyllis Coates, ...

11. Allen Baron

Director | Blast of Silence

Allen Baron was born on April 14, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Blast of Silence (1961), The Immortal (1969) and Terror in the City (1964).

12. Hall Bartlett

Writer | The Sandpit Generals

Hall Bartlett was born on November 27, 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Sandpit Generals (1971), The Caretakers (1963) and Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). He was married to Lupita Ferrer, Rhonda Fleming and Lois Butler. He died on September 7, 1993...

13. William Beaudine

Director | The Ape Man

William Beaudine, the director of nearly 350 known films (nearly one for every day of the year; some listings of his work put his output at 500 movies and hundreds of TV episodes) and scores of television episodes, enjoyed a directing career that stretched across seven decades from the 'Teens to ...

14. Laslo Benedek

Director | Death of a Salesman

Laslo Benedek was brought to Hollywood from Hungary--where he had been a writer, editor and photographer--by MGM, and his first few films were undistinguished programmers. His third, however, was quite a bit better: Death of a Salesman (1951), the screen version of Arthur Miller's classic play. ...

15. Charles Bennett

Director | Painted Pictures

Charles Bennett is known for Painted Pictures (1930).

16. William Berke

Director | Rolling Home

American director of 1940s and '50s second features, mainly westerns (often starring Charles Starrett) and crime and jungle dramas for Republic, Columbia and Pine-Thomas Productions. A graduate of Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, Berke worked his way up the ladder from office boy to assistant ...

17. Edward Bernds

Director | Assignment: Underwater

Edward Bernds was born in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio club and obtained amateur licenses. In the early '20s there was considerable prestige for an amateur operator (a "ham") to have commercial radio ...

18. Jack Bernhard

Director | Decoy

Jack Bernhard was born on November 28, 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Decoy (1946), Unknown Island (1948) and Man Made Monster (1941). He was married to Jean Gillie. He died on March 30, 1997 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.

19. Curtis Bernhardt

Director | Kisses for My President

If Curtis Bernhardt is a relative unknown, it's because he didn't direct his first Hollywood feature until 1940 at the age of 41. Bernhardt worked for years in Germany until his Jewish heritage made living there impossible by 1933-- he was arrested by the Gestapo and made a harrowing underground ...

20. John Berry

Director | Ça va barder

John Berry was born on September 6, 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Ça va barder (1955), À tout casser (1968) and A Captive in the Land (1990). He was married to Myriam Boyer and Gladys Cole. He died on November 29, 1999 in Paris, France.

21. Herbert J. Biberman

Director | Salt of the Earth

Herbert J. Biberman, the progressive producer, director and screenwriter now best known as one of the Hollywood Ten who were blacklisted by the American Film Industry for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was born on March 4, 1900 in Philadelphia, ...

22. Russell Birdwell

Director | Flying Devils

Russell Birdwell was born on October 17, 1903 in Texas, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Flying Devils (1933), The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) and Masquerade (1929). He was married to Mabel Birdwell. He died on December 15, 1977 in Oxnard, California, USA.

23. George Blair

Director | Daredevils of the Clouds

George Blair was born on December 6, 1905 in Newfield, England, UK. He was a director and assistant director, known for Daredevils of the Clouds (1948), Scotland Yard Investigator (1945) and Rose of the Yukon (1949). He died on April 19, 1970 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

24. Budd Boetticher

Director | Bullfighter and the Lady

Brilliant, distinguished American director, particularly of Westerns, whose simple, bleak style disguises a complex artistic temperament. The adopted son of a wealthy hardware retailer, Boetticher attended Culver Military Academy and Ohio State University, where he excelled in football and boxing.

...

25. Frank Borzage

Director | Bad Girl

Frank Borzage was born on April 23, 1894 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Bad Girl (1931), 7th Heaven (1927) and No Greater Glory (1934). He was married to Juanita Scott, Edna Skelton and Rena Rogers. He died on June 19, 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, ...

26. David Bradley

Director | Julius Caesar

David Bradley was born on April 6, 1920 in Winnetka, Illinois, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Julius Caesar (1950), Peer Gynt (1941) and The Madmen of Mandoras (1963). He died on December 19, 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

27. John Brahm

Director | The Twilight Zone

The son of comedian and theatre director Ludwig Brahm, Hans followed in his father's footsteps and began his career on the stages of Vienna, Berlin and Paris. Again, like his father, he graduated to directing and had his first fling with the film business as a dialogue director for a Franco/German ...

28. Howard Bretherton

Director | Midnight Limited

Former propman Howard Bretherton was one of the legion of unknown directors who made the films--mostly westerns--that generations of kids trudged to see at the Saturday afternoon matinées. Bretherton's long career as an action/western director began in the late 1920s and ended more than 25 years ...

29. Richard Brooks

Writer | In Cold Blood

Richard Brooks was an Academy Award-winning film writer who also earned six Oscar nominations and achieved success as a film director and producer.

He was born Reuben Sax on May 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from West Philadelphia ...

30. Otto Brower

Director | The Light of Western Stars

Otto Brower was born on December 2, 1895 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Light of Western Stars (1930), Speed to Burn (1938) and Speed Wings (1934). He was married to Pern Logan. He died on January 25, 1946 in Hollywood, California, USA.

31. Clarence Brown

Director | Anna Karenina

Clarence Leon Brown was the son of Larkin Harry and Catherine Ann (Gaw) Brown of Clinton, Massachusetts. His family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was 12 years old. He graduated from Knoxville High School in 1905 and from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in mechanical and electrical ...

32. Edward Buzzell

Director | Transient Lady

Edward Buzzell was born in Brooklyn, NY, and became a musical comedy star on Broadway. He went to Hollywood in 1929 to star in the movie version (Little Johnny Jones (1929)) of the old George M. Cohan stage show "Little Johnny Jones" in 1929. He starred also in Vitaphone shorts, where he started ...

33. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

34. Edward L. Cahn

Director | Born to Speed

Edward L. Cahn was an American second-feature director of Polish ancestry. His brother Philip Cahn worked in the industry as editor. Edward worked in films from 1917 as a production assistant. He later joined his brother in the cutting room of Universal, eventually becoming one of the studio's top ...

35. Richard Carlson

Actor | Creature from the Black Lagoon

The son of an attorney, Richard Carlson had an introspective quality to his performances and looked every inch the academic he first aspired to be. Following his graduation from the University of Minnesota with a Master's Degree in English, the tall, dark-haired youth had a brief stint as a drama ...

36. William Castle

Director | Homicidal

William Castle was born on April 24, 1914 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Homicidal (1961), House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947). He was married to Ellen. He died on May 31, 1977 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

37. Joseph Cates

Producer | Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man

Joseph Cates was born on August 10, 1924 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man (1970), 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin (1972) and Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965). He was married to Dr. Aylin Radomisli, Lily Valentine ...

38. Elmer Clifton

Director | The Secret of Treasure Island

He acted on the stage from 1907 and worked with D.W. Griffith in various capacities between 1913-22, including appearances in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). He became a director in 1917, with his best-known production probably being the big-budget whaling epic Down to the Sea ...

39. Harold Clurman

Director | Deadline at Dawn

Harold Clurman was born on September 18, 1901 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director, known for Deadline at Dawn (1946), Play of the Week (1959) and All My Sons (1948). He was married to Juleen Compton and Stella Adler. He died on September 9, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA.

40. Walter Colmes

Producer | The French Key

Walter Colmes was born on May 19, 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer and director, known for The French Key (1946), Identity Unknown (1945) and Road to the Big House (1947). He died on October 11, 1988 in Avery, North Carolina, USA.

41. W. Merle Connell

Director | Untamed Women

W. Merle Connell was born on January 7, 1905 in Yakima, Washington, USA. W. Merle was a director and cinematographer, known for Untamed Women (1952), The Flesh Merchant (1956) and Hometown Girl (1948). W. Merle was married to Jennie Ramsey. W. Merle died on November 25, 1963 in Los Angeles, ...

42. Jack Conway

Director | Viva Villa!

Born Hugh Ryan Conway of Irish ancestry, Jack Conway was one of a team of MGM contract directors (others included Sam Wood and Robert Z. Leonard), who forsook any pretense to a specific individual style in favor of working within the strictures set forth by studio management--as embodied by Irving ...

43. Frederick De Cordova

Producer | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Educated at Northwestern University, Frederick De Cordova began his show business career on the stage, and came to Hollywood in the mid-'40s as a dialogue director. He graduated to director in 1945. He spent much of his career at Universal Pictures, where he turned out medium-budget westerns, ...

44. Roger Corman

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a...

45. Hubert Cornfield

Director | The Night of the Following Day

Hubert Cornfield was born on February 9, 1929 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was a director and writer, known for The Night of the Following Day (1969), The 3rd Voice (1960) and Pressure Point (1962). He died on June 18, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

46. Ricardo Cortez

Actor | The Maltese Falcon

Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Krantz in New York City, New York, the son of Sarah (Lefkowitz) and Moses/Morris Krantz, Austrian Jewish immigrants who moved to New York just before he was born. His brother was cinematographer Stanley Cortez, who also changed his surname. Cortez worked a number of ...

47. John Cromwell

Director | The Prisoner of Zenda

Actor / director John Cromwell was born December 23, 1887, in Toledo, OH. He made his Broadway debut on October 14, 1912, in Marian De Forest's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" at the Playhouse Theatre. The show was a hit, running for a total of 184 performances. Cromwell appeared ...

48. George Cukor

Director | My Fair Lady

George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.

In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of...

49. Michael Curtiz

Director | Casablanca

Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...

50. Harold Daniels

Director | The Woman from Tangier

Harold Daniels was born on June 25, 1903 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Woman from Tangier (1948), Port Sinister (1953) and My World Dies Screaming (1958). He died on December 27, 1971 in Hollywood, California, USA.

51. Jules Dassin

Director | Du rififi chez les hommes

Jules Dassin was an Academy Award-nominated director, screenwriter and actor best known for his films Rififi (1955), Never on Sunday (1960), and Topkapi (1964).

He was born Julius Samuel Dassin on 18 December 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He was one of eight children of Russian-Jewish ...

52. Delmer Daves

Writer | An Affair to Remember

Although Delmer Daves obtained a law degree at Stanford University, he never had the opportunity to use it; while still in college, he obtained a job as a prop boy on The Covered Wagon (1923) and after graduation was hired by several film companies as a technical advisor on films with a college ...

53. Charles David

Producer | River Gang

Charles Henri David, writer, producer and director, was born on May 4, 1906 in the Lorraine region, in the city of Metz.

He entered the movie industry in the early 1930s, working for Pathé studios in France; he would become director of Pathé-Natan, and later in mid-1930s Head Producer (Directeur de ...

54. Edward Dein

Director | Seven Guns to Mesa

Edward Dein was born on May 24, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Seven Guns to Mesa (1958), Sword of Granada (1953) and Shack Out on 101 (1955). He died on February 14, 1984 in Encino, California, USA.

55. Roy Del Ruth

Director | It Happened on Fifth Avenue

Roy Del Ruth was born on Oct. 18, 1895, in Philadelphia, PA. He began his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915. He began directing in 1919 for Sennett with the two-reeler Hungry Lions and Tender Hearts (1920). In the early 1920s he moved over to features with such efforts as Asleep...

56. André De Toth

Writer | The Gunfighter

Although he obtained a law degree from the Royal Hungarian University, Andre De Toth decided to become an actor, and spent several years on the stage. He then entered the Hungarian film industry, obtaining work as a writer, editor, second unit director and actor before finally becoming a director. ...

57. William Dieterle

Actor | Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage

Born in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Wilhelm Dieterle was the youngest of nine children of parents Jacob and Berthe Dieterle. They lived in poverty, and when he was old enough to work, young Wilhelm earned money as a carpenter and a scrap dealer. He dreamed of better things, though, and theater caught ...

58. Edward Dmytryk

Director | The Caine Mutiny

Edward Dmytryk grew up in San Francisco, the son of Ukrainian immigrants. After his mother died when he was 6, his strict disciplinarian father beat the boy frequently, and the child began running away while in his early teens. Eventually, juvenile authorities allowed him to live alone at the age ...

59. Walter Doniger

Writer | Rope of Sand

A graduate of the Harvard School of Business, Walter Doniger started as a scriptwriter in the early 1940s with Universal. During the war years he collaborated on training films for the US Army. He maintained an interest in military matters that was reflected in much of his later work, both for ...

60. Gordon Douglas

Director | Them!

Starting out as a child actor, Gordon Douglas was eventually hired by Hal Roach as a gag writer. His first directorial assignments were for Roach's "Our Gang" series. Graduating to features, Douglas stayed with comedies, directing Oliver Hardy in Zenobia (1939) and both Hardy and Stan Laurel in ...

61. Ewald André Dupont

Writer | Varieté

German film director E.A. Dupont was an influential critic and newspaper columnist before breaking into the film industry. He wrote several screenplays and worked as a story editor for Richard Oswald before turning to directing in 1917. Over the next eight years Dupont became a respected exponent ...

62. Julien Duvivier

Writer | Panique

Revered by such legendary fellow directors as Ingmar Bergman and Jean Renoir, Julien Duvivier is one of the most legendary figures in the history of French cinema. He is perhaps the most neglected of the "Big Five" of classic French cinema (the other four being Jean Renoir, Rene Clair, Jacques ...

63. Allan Dwan

Director | Bound in Morocco

Allan Dwan was born on April 3, 1885 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a director and writer, known for Bound in Morocco (1918), A Perfect Crime (1921) and Panthea (1917). He was married to Marie Shelton and Pauline Bush. He died on December 28, 1981 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, ...

64. Blake Edwards

Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again

Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...

65. Cy Endfield

Director | Zulu

The son of a struggling businessman, Cy Endfield--born Cyril Raker Endfield--worked hard to be admitted to Yale University in 1933. While completing his education he became enamored with progressive theatre and appeared in a New Haven production of a minor Russian play in 1934. He was also ...

66. John English

Director | Captain America

John English was born on June 25, 1903 in Cumbria, England, UK. He was a director and editor, known for Captain America (1944), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) and Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940). He was married to Nina ?. He died on October 11, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

67. Chester Erskine

Producer | All My Sons

Chester Erskine was born on November 29, 1903 in Hudson, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for All My Sons (1948), The Egg and I (1947) and Take One False Step (1949). He was married to Sally. He died on April 7, 1986 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

68. Harry Essex

Writer | Creature from the Black Lagoon

New York-born Harry Essex planned on a writing career throughout his young life. Among his first jobs were stints on the New York newspapers "The Daily Mirror" and "The Brooklyn Eagle", short stories for "Collier's" and "The Saturday Evening Post" and even a Broadway play titled "Something for ...

69. John Farrow

Writer | Around the World in Eighty Days

John Farrow wrote short stories and plays during his four-year career in the navy. In the late 1920s he came to Hollywood as a technical advisor for a film about Marines and stayed as a screenwriter, from A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927) through Tarzan Escapes (1936). He married Tarzan's Jane, Maureen ...

70. Felix E. Feist

Director | Deluge

Felix E. Feist was born on February 28, 1910 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Deluge (1933), The Golden Gloves Story (1950) and Reckless Age (1944). He was married to Lisa Howard. He died on September 2, 1965 in Encino, California, USA.

71. Leslie Fenton

Actor | The House of Secrets

English-born Leslie Fenton came to the U.S. as a child. He journeyed to Hollywood in his late teens to break into the movies, and managed to get several jobs as an actor. He became a reliable supporting actor in many pictures in the 1930s, working his way up to leads in B pictures. He switched to ...

72. Mel Ferrer

Actor | Lili

Actor/director/producer Mel Ferrer was born Melchor Gaston Ferrer on August 25, 1917, in Elberon, New Jersey. The son of a Cuban-born surgeon and a Manhattan socialite, he went to prep school and attended Princeton University. From the age of 15 he worked in summer stock. After Princeton he became ...

73. Richard Fleischer

Director | Soylent Green

Richard firmly established his credentials with such epics as The Vikings (1958) , 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and Barabbas (1961) and also proved to be a master of intimate drama with Compulsion (1959) , which won Cannes Festival awards for the male stars. He won an Academy Award for one ...

74. Robert Florey

Director | Four Star Playhouse

Robert Florey became infatuated with Hollywood while in his teens. By the time he set off for America in the early 1920s he had written articles on film for Cinemagazine, La Cinematographie Francaise and Le Technicien du Film, acted and directed one-reel shorts in Switzerland and worked as an ...

75. Philip Ford

Director | Web of Danger

Philip Ford was born on October 16, 1900 in Portland, Maine, USA. He was a director and assistant director, known for Web of Danger (1947), Prisoners in Petticoats (1950) and Valley of the Zombies (1946). He was married to Jane Eliza Harrison, Viola Catherine Waller and Lucia Diprete. He died on ...

76. Eugene Forde

Director | The Big Diamond Robbery

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 8, 1896, director Eugene Forde began his industry career as a child actor on the legitimate stage. He left the business in the early 1920s, but in 1926 came back as a writer/director. He was one of the mainstays at the 20th Century-Fox "B" unit starting...

77. Lewis R. Foster

Writer | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Lewis R. Foster was born on August 5, 1898 in Brookfield, Missouri, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Captain China (1950) and Tropic Zone (1953). He was married to Dorothy Wilson and Helen Mae. He died on June 10, 1974 in Tehachapi, California, USA.

78. Norman Foster

Director | Letter to Loretta

Norman Foster was born on December 13, 1903 in Richmond, Indiana, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Loretta Young Show (1953), I Cover Chinatown (1936) and Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1938). He was married to Sally Blane and Claudette Colbert. He died on July 7, 1976 in Santa Monica, ...

79. John Frankenheimer

Director | The Manchurian Candidate

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...

80. Hugo Fregonese

Director | Apenas un delincuente

Hugo Fregonese was born on April 8, 1908 in Mendoza, Argentina. He was a director and writer, known for Hardly a Criminal (1949), My Six Convicts (1952) and Savage Pampas (1965). He was married to Faith Domergue. He died on January 17, 1987 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

81. Seymour Friedman

Director | Criminal Lawyer

Born in Detroit, Cambridge-educated Seymour Friedman entered films in 1937 as an assistant editor, eventually graduating to assistant director. After WW II service, he returned to the film industry as a director, mainly of routine, low-budget action films, many for Columbia Pictures, debuting with ...

82. Samuel Fuller

Writer | Shock Corridor

At age 17, Samuel Fuller was the youngest reporter ever to be in charge of the events section of the New York Journal. After having participated in the European battle theater in World War II, he directed some minor action productions for which he mostly wrote the scripts himself and which he also ...

83. Martin Gabel

Actor | Marnie

Martin Gabel was born on June 19, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Marnie (1964), The Front Page (1974) and The Lost Moment (1947). He was married to Arlene Francis. He died on May 22, 1986 in New York City, New York, USA.

84. Jack Gage

Director | The Velvet Touch

Jack Gage was born on December 26, 1912 in Paris, France. He was a director, known for The Velvet Touch (1948), Foreign Intrigue (1951) and New York Confidential (1959). He died on January 4, 1989 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

85. Tay Garnett

Director | China Seas

Following his service as a naval aviator in WW I, Tay Garnett entered films in 1920 as a screenwriter. After a stint as a gag writer for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach he joined Pathe, then the distributor for both competing comedy producers, and in 1928 began directing for that company. Garnett ...

86. Peter Godfrey

Actor | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

London-born Peter Godfrey was a stage actor / director / producer before coming to Hollywood as an actor in the late '30s. After appearing in several films, he turned to directing, and spent most of his career at Warner Bros., directing "B" dramas, comedies and thrillers. He left film directing in ...

87. Michael Gordon

Director | Cyrano de Bergerac

A stage actor and director, Michael Gordon broke into films in 1940 as a dialogue director, then became a film editor. He directed his first feature in 1942. He started out with low-budget crime thrillers, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s turned out several well-crafted dramas, notably Cyrano ...

88. Edmund Goulding

Director | Grand Hotel

London-born Edmund Goulding was an actor/playwright/director on the London stage, and entered the British army when WWI broke out. Mustered out of the service because of wounds suffered in battle, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1921. He obtained assignments as a screenwriter in Hollywood, wrote a ...

89. Alfred E. Green

Director | The Jolson Story

One of the more prolific American directors, Alfred E. Green entered films in 1912 as an actor for the Selig Polyscope Co. He became an assistant to director Colin Campbell and started directing two-reelers, turning to features in 1917. His career lasted into the mid-1950s but his output was mostly...

90. Paul Guilfoyle

Actor | The Grapes of Wrath

American character actor. Upon his entry into films in 1930, he was typecast as a weakling or criminal type. He received great acclaim for his role as Garth Esdras, the haunted and hunted accessory to murder in Winterset (1936). Memorable as the weaselly convict who tries to kill James Cagney at ...

91. Robert J. Gurney Jr.

Writer | Terror from the Year 5000

Robert J. Gurney Jr. was born on December 11, 1924 in Gastonia, North Carolina, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Terror from the Year 5000 (1958), Edge of Fury (1958) and The Parisienne and the Prudes (1964). He died on January 26, 2011 in Long Beach, California, USA.

92. Charles F. Haas

Producer | Moonrise

Harvard-educated Charles Haas entered films in 1935 as an extra at Universal. He was soon promoted to assistant director, then branched out into directing documentaries and industrial films. During WW II he made training films for the Army Signal Corps. After the war he went back to work for ...

93. Hugo Haas

Actor | Pickup

A portly, somewhat grubby and bohemian-looking character star, Hugo Haas was one of the most celebrated Czech actors back in the 30s, a comic star who only grew in stature as he delved creatively into writing, directing and producing. The Nazi invasion forced him to leave his beloved country and ...

94. Byron Haskin

Director | The War of the Worlds

After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, Byron Haskin worked for a time as a newspaper cartoonist. He began his career in the film industry in 1920 as a commercial-industrial movie photographer, and then as a cameraman for Pathe and International Newsreel. Later he became an ...

95. Henry Hathaway

Director | True Grit

Henry Hathaway, son of a stage actress and manager, started his career as a child actor in westerns directed by Allan Dwan. His movie career was interrupted by World War I. After his discharge he briefly tried a career in finance but returned to Hollywood to work as an assistant director under such...

96. Howard Hawks

Director | Red River

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

97. Ben Hecht

Writer | Notorious

Ben Hecht, one of Hollywood's and Broadway's greatest writers, won an Oscar for best original story for Underworld (1927) at the first Academy Awards in 1929 and had a hand in the writing of many classic films. He was nominated five more times for the best writing Oscar, winning (along with writing...

98. Stuart Heisler

Director | Saturday Island

Director Stuart Heisler began his film-industry career as a prop man in 1913, joining Mack Sennett at Keystone the following year. He worked as an editor for Samuel Goldwyn at United Artists from 1924-25 and again from 1929-34 and at Paramount from 1935-36. He graduated to second-unit director with ...

99. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

100. Jack Hively

Director | They Made Her a Spy

Jack Hively was born on September 5, 1910. He was a director and editor, known for They Made Her a Spy (1939), The Saint's Double Trouble (1940) and They Met in Argentina (1941). He died on December 19, 1995 in Hollywood, California, USA.