Page 3 of 3

I am of the opinion that, of all the director's many duties, there is -- perhaps -- no one single function that is more vital to the ultimate quality of the film than the editing.

I have always believed that the director should have the final say regarding the cutting, in order to bring the film to its full potential.

There's no doubt that a good editor can enhance a director's work immeasurably. Nevertheless, I always stayed as close as possible to my film throughout the entire editing process.

director, Allan Dwan
[Directing: Learn from the Masters, pp. 57]

Archie Mayo

Born - January 29, 1891, New York, New York
Died - December 4, 1968, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (cancer)


Film with Tyrone Power
Crash Dive (1943)

Archie Mayo was a stage actor who entered films as an extra in 1916. The following year, he began directing comedy shorts. In 1926, he directed his first feature film, Money Talks for MGM. The following year, he moved to Warners. There, he made a few silent films. Then in 1928, he directed State-Street Sadie, which helped move Warner Bros. into the sound era. He made a number of sound movies for Warners between 1929 and 1937, including The Petrified Forest, The Life of Jimmy Dolan, Bordertown, Gambling Lady, Black Legion, and Go Into Your Dance. In 1937, he left Warners and began freelancing for other studios. Among the films he directed for 20th Century-Fox were 1941's Charley's Aunt, 1942's Orchestra Wives, 1942's Moontide, and, of course, 1943's Crash Dive. His last film for 20th Century-Fox was 1944's Sweet and Low-Down. He made a couple more movies after that, but he retired in 1946, after filming Angel on My Shoulder.

Joseph M. Newman

Born - August 7, 1909, Logan, Utah

Film with Tyrone Power
Pony Soldier (1952)

Joseph M. Newman began his film career as an assistant director in 1933, and he continued to work in this capacity until 1942, during which time he also directed a number of film shorts. As an assistant director, he worked on such movies as Maytime, His Brother's Wife, The Merry Widow, and Riptide. Newman was twice nominated for an Oscar as an assistant director : in 1936 for The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger; and in 1937 for San Francisco. By 1942, Newman had graduated to directing full feature films. Among his movies are 1949's Abandoned, 1950's 711 Ocean Drive, 1953's Red Skies of Montana, and 1954's The Human Jungle.

Gregory Ratoff

Born - April 20, 1897, St. Petersburg, Russia
Died - December 14, 1960, Solothurn, Switzerland (leukemia)


Films with Tyrone Power
Day-Time Wife (1939)
Rose of Washington Square (1939)

Ratoff was a producer, actor, and director. He was educated at the University of St. Petersburg. He was interested in becoming a lawyer, but his studies were interrupted because of his service in the Russian Czar's army. His interest in law waned, and he drifted into work with the Moscow Art Theatre. With the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, Ratoff fled his native Russia and moved to France, where he established an acting career. In 1922, impresario Lee Schubert spotted him in the Paris production of Russe Revue. Schubert brought the show to New York to perform on Broadway. Following a short run on Broadway, Ratoff decided to stay in America. He joined the Yiddish Players, performing as an actor, producer, and director. Though Gregory Ratoff might best be remembered for the character roles that he created rather than for the movies that he directed, he had a highly respected career as a director. He began his directing career at 20th Century-Fox in 1936, when he directed his first movie, Sins of Man, starring Jean Hersholt and Don Ameche. He made a couple more obscure movies for the studio, and then came his big hit, Rose of Washington Square, which made him one of the leading directors at 20th Century-Fox, though he also directed movies for other studios. For 20th Century-Fox, among the movies he directed were 1939's Hotel for Women, 1942's Footlight Serenade, 1944's Irish Eyes Are Smiling, 1945's Where Do We Go from Here?, 1946's Do You Love Me, and 1947's Moss Rose. Among the movies he directed for various other studios were 1939's Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1941's The Corsican Brothers, 1941's Adam Had Four Sons, 1943's Song of Russia, and 1945's Paris Underground.

Richard Sale

Born - December 17, 1911, New York, New York
Died - March 4, 1993, Los Angeles, California (stroke)


Film with Tyrone Power
Abandon Ship (1957)

Richard Sale was a short story writer and novelist during the early 1930's. He was married to Mary Anita Loos, a writer and niece to the well-known playwright, Anita Loos. He and his wife wrote more than a dozen screenplays together (sometimes with an additional writer), including 1947's Calendar Girl, 1949's Mother Is a Freshman, 1949's Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, and 1950's When Willie Comes Marching Home. Following World War II, he began directing, for about an eleven year period. His first directing jobs were at Republic, where he directed 1947's Spoilers of the North and 1948's Campus Honeymoon. By 1950, he was directing movies for 20th Century-Fox. Among the movies he directed were 1950's I'll Get By, a musical; 1951's Meet Me After the Show, a musical; and 1953's The Girl Next Door, a comedy Western. The last film that he directed was the gripping drama, Abandon Ship, which Sale also wrote. After that movie, he continued to write, but he abandoned his directing career, though he had received good notice for his last movie.

George Sidney

Born - October 4, 1916, Long Island City, New York
Died - May 5, 2002, Las Vegas, Nevada (complications of lymphoma)


Film with Tyrone Power
The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)

George Sidney began working for MGM as a messenger boy while still a teenager. He quickly worked his way up to film editor, and, by 1935, he was an assistant director. Within another year or so, he was directing one-reel shorts. By 1941, Sidney was directing features. Sidney was to become one of MGM's finest directors, specializing in musicals but also directing a few swashbucklers. His musicals of the 1940's and 1950's found an enthusiastic audience that loved the "dazzling perfection of his films' professionalism and timing, and found their exuberance and excitement infectious." [The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors, p. 276.] Among his popular MGM musicals were Anchors Aweigh, The Harvey Girls, Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Till the Clouds Roll By, Ziegfeld Follies, and Kiss Me Kate. His non-musicals included such movies as Cass Timberlane, Scaramouche, Young Bess, and Key to the City. In 1956, Sidney moved to Columbia studios, where his first three movies featured Kim Novak: 1956's The Eddy Duchin Story, 1957's Pal Joey, and 1957's Jeanne Engels. He continued directing into the 1960's with such musicals as Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) nominated four of Sidney’s films for “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures". He was nominated in 1952 for Show Boat; in 1953 for Scaramouche; in 1954 for Young Bess; and in 1956 for The Eddy Duchin Story. The DGA further honored him in 1959 with an Honorary Life Member Award; in 1986, with the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award; and in 1998, with the President’s Award.

Robert B. Sinclair

Born - May 24, 1905, Toledo, Ohio
Died - January 4, 1970,


Film with Tyrone Power
That Wonderful Urge (1948)

Sinclair's first directing job was with MGM, in 1938. He made two movies for them that year: Woman Against Woman , starring Herbert Marshall and Virginia Bruce and Dramatic School, starring Luise Rainer and Paulette Goddard. He worked for MGM for the next few years, directing both comedies and dramas. In 1947, he left MGM and made a movie called Mr. District Attorney for Columbia. The following year, he directed 20th Century-Fox's That Wonderful Urge, which was to be his last movie. He then went into directing for various highly successful television series, mostly for Warner Brothers Television. Among the shows were Maverick, Lawman, 77 Sunset Strip, The Deputy, and Surfside 6, which were very popular series of the late 1950's and early 1960's. Sinclair's life ended tragically in 1970 when he was the victim of a homicide.

W.S. Van Dyke

Born - March 21, 1889, San Diego, California
Died - February 5, 1943, Brentwood, California (suicide)


Film with Tyrone Power
Marie Antoinette (1938)

MGM director W.S. Van Dyke's nickname was "One Take Woody", as he was noted for hurrying through a film, often capturing a scene in the first take. Though he was known for his speed at making films, the product was usually a fine, well-told story. He directed a wide variety of films, from comedies to dramas to musicals. Van Dyke got his start in Hollywood in 1916, when he was hired as one of D.W. Griffith's assistants in Intolerance. He did some writing and got into directing some low-budget westerns. He gradually worked his way up to higher budget westerns, in the latter days of silent films. In 1926, he joined MGM, where, for awhile, he continued making westerns. In 1928, he was to assist in directing MGM's White Shadows of the South Seas. When the director abandoned the project, Van Dyke took over and was credited with directing MGM's first sound film. From there, his directing assignments were toward more quality movies. Van Dyke received two Oscar nominations for Best Director: in 1935 for The Thin Man and in 1937 for San Francisco. In addition to the various Thin Man movies and San Francisco, among his landmark movies are 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man, 1936's Rose-Marie, 1939's It's a Wonderful World, and 1940's I Love You Again . Darryl F. Zanuck was not happy with the way his biggest star, Tyrone Power, was used in the movie, Marie Antoinette, feeling that every camera angle and dialogue favored the MGM star, Norma Shearer. Additionally, important scenes with Tyrone were cut from the final version of the movie, which resulted in his part being much smaller than his billing would suggest. The decisions on camera angles, dialogue, and editing would have been made by the director. The result of this treatment of Zanuck's star was that Ty would never again be loaned to another studio, despite various requests for his services. Unfortunately, this was a loss for the studios who wanted him and for Tyrone himself, who failed to play some parts that he really wanted to play.

King Vidor

Born - February 8, 1894, Galveston, Texas
Died - November 1, 1982, Paso Robles, California


Film with Tyrone Power
Solomon and Sheba (1959)

King Vidor is considered by some to be one of Hollywood's greatest directors. He grew up in Texas, where he would shoot news footage and sell to newsreel companies. In 1915, he moved to Hollywood, where he supported himself for four years by working as a script clerk, writer, and extra in movies. During this time, he wrote, directed, and acted in several short comedies. By 1919, he was doing feature films. The movie that finally gave him recognition was 1925's The Big Parade, a war film that was a critical and commercial success. In 1929, Vidor was nominated for an Oscar nomination for best director for 1928's silent film, The Crowd . He went on to receive nominations in 1930 for Hallelujah; in 1932 for The Champ; in 1939 for The Citadel; and in 1957 for War and Peace . Solomon and Sheba was Vidor's last picture. About it, he said, "With Power, it would have been a marvelous picture. Without him, it turned out to be an unimportant, nothing sort of film." [The Films of Tyrone Power, p. 40] Among Vidor's other films are 1937's Stella Dallas, 1940's Northwest Passage, 1946's Duel in the Sun, and 1949's The Fountainhead. Vidor was given an honorary Oscar in 1979 for "his incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator." [Illustrated Who's Who of Hollywood Directors, p. 429.]

Billy Wilder

Born - June 22, 1906, Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Sucha beskidzka, Poland]
Died - March 27, 2002, Beverly Hills, California (pneumonia)


Film with Tyrone Power
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Billy Wilder was known as much for his writing as for his directing. In 1929 he broke into films as a screenplay writer. Wilder fled the Nazis in January 1933, when Hitler came to Power. (Sadly, most of Wilder's family would, years later, die in concentration camps.) He and an actress girlfriend took the night train from Berlin to Paris, where he worked for a time in French cinema. Later, he moved to Britain and then to Mexico. Finally, he ended up in Hollywood and found work at Paramount as a writer. In 1938, he began a writing/directing/producing partnership with Charles Brackett, with whom he would later share Oscar nominations. Wilder's association with Paramount was successful, as his films were moneymakers. The forties and fifties were golden years for Wilder, as he turned out many commercially successful and critically acclaimed films. He was nominated (shared with one of his writing partners) for an Oscar for Best Writing in 1940 for Ninotchka; in 1942 for Hold Back the Dawn and for Ball of Fire; in 1945 for Double Indemnity; in 1951 for A Foreign Affair ; in 1952 for Ace in the Hole ; in 1955 for Sabrina; and in 1967 for The Fortune Cookie He took home an Oscar for Best Writing in 1946 for The Lost Weekend; in 1951 for Sunset Blvd. ; and in 1961 for The Apartment. (These nominations were in various “Best Writing” categories, such as original story, screenplay, etc.) In the Best Director category, he was nominated for an Oscar in 1945 for Double Indemnity; in 1951 for Sunset Blvd.; in 1954 for Stalag 17; in 1955 for Sabrina; in 1958 for Witness for the Prosecution ; and in 1960 for Some Like It Hot. He took home the Oscar for Best Director in 1946 for The Lost Weekend and in 1961 for The Apartment. In 1988, the Academy honored him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for “consistently high quality of motion picture production”.

William Wyler

Born - July 1, 1902, Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany [now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France]
Died - July 27, 1981, Los Angeles, California (heart attack)


Film with Tyrone Power
Tom Brown of Culver (1932)

Though he was born in the province of Alsace, then a possession of Germany, Wyler emigrated at the age of eighteen to the United States. His mother's cousin was Carl Laemmle, head of Universal Studios, and he offered Wyler a job at the studio. At first Wyler worked in Universal's New York offices as an errand boy, but he slowly moved up in the company. In 1922, he moved to California, where he continued to work for Universal. In 1925, he directed his firt movie, a two-reel Western called Crook Buster. He worked from 1925-1929 in Universal's B unit, where he directed over thirty low-budget silent westerns. His first "A" picture was 1930's Hell's Heroes. Universal's financial troubles in the early thirties resulted in Laemmle being forced to sell the studio, which put the jobs of the many family members working there at risk, including Wyler's job. He left Univeral in 1935, after filming The Good Fairy . During the mid-thirties, he became an important director for the independent producer Samuel Goldwyn, though he also was loaned out to other studios. His association with Goldwyn would continue through 1946, when he made his last film for the studio, The Best Years of Our Lives. He would then do a number of films for Paramount, as well as a few for Columbia, United Artists, and MGM.

Wyler received a dozen Oscar nominations for Best Director and won three: in 1943 for Mrs. Miniver; in 1947 for The Best Years of Our Lives, and in 1960 for Ben-Hur. The other nominations for Best Director came in 1937 for Dodsworth; 1940 for Wuthering Heights; 1941 for The Letter; 1942 for The Little Foxes; 1950 for The Heiress; 1952 for Detective Story; 1954 for Roman Holiday; 1957 for Friendly Persuasion; and 1966 for The Collector.

William Wyler and Tyrone Power never worked together after the small role that Ty had in Tom Brown of Culver. They did, however, become close friends, and Wyler is said to have been devastated when Ty died so suddenly. On the set of Ben-Hur, it is reported that Wyler wrote in his diary: "Ty Power's shockingly sudden death on set in Spain yesterday made me suddenly aware of my mortality." Tyrone and Debbie Power's son, born after Ty's death, was named Tyrone William Power IV, with the middle name chosen to honor William Wyler. [The Films of Tyrone Power, p. 44]

non-profit site
© 2004-2011 tyrone-power.com
all rights reserved