Henry Hathaway | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hathaway in 1944 | |
| Born | Marquis Henri Léopold de Fiennes (1898-03-13)March 13, 1898 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Died | February 11, 1985(1985-02-11) (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1925–1974 |
| Spouse | († 1995) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parents |
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Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director ofWesterns, especially starringRandolph Scott andJohn Wayne. He directedGary Cooper in seven films. He was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Director forThe Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935).
Henry Hathaway was born Henri Léopold de Fiennes, in Sacramento, California.[1] Hathaway's father,Rhody Hathaway, carried the title of nobility. Rhody became a theatrical manager and married Hathaway's mother, a Hungarian, who acted under the nameJean Hathaway (some citations claim Hathaway was her maiden name).[2][3]
His title ofMarquis was inherited from his paternal great grandfather J.B. de Fiennes, a Belgian nobleman andbarrister[4] in service to KingLeopold I of Belgium. When his great grandfather failed in his commission to secure theSandwich Islands (now Hawaii) for Belgium, the disgraced elder Marquis self-exiled to San Francisco in 1850.[5][6] There he established a law practice and married.
In 1908, at ten years of age, Hathaway began appearing as a child actor with theAmerican Film Company under the mentorship of directorAllan Dwan.[7] Dwan's prolific output of one and two-reels shorts, filmed near the U.S.-Mexico border between 1908-1912, influenced Hathaway's later interest in Western-themed movies productions.[8]
Hathaway left school in 1912 at the age of fourteen to become anassistant property master atUniversal Pictures, and began playing adolescent roles in 1917.[9] With the entry of the United States intoWorld War I, Hathaway served as a gunnery instructor at Fort Winfield Scott in San Francisco for the duration of the conflict.[10]
After his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1919, Hathaway made a brief but unsuccessful foray into high finance with the Morris Audit Company. He returned to Hollywood in 1921 as property man for producer/directorFrank Lloyd, who was known for his adaptations of literary classics.[11]
In 1923, Hathaway began working insilent films as an assistant to directors such asVictor Fleming andJosef von Sternberg, and made the transition to sound with them. He was the assistant director toFred Niblo on the 1925 version ofBen-Hur starringFrancis X. Bushman andRamon Novarro. Hathaway continued as an assistant director through the remainder of the 1920s, helping direct such actors asGary Cooper,Marlene Dietrich,Adolphe Menjou,Fay Wray,Walter Huston,Clara Bow, andNoah Beery.[12]
Henry Hathaway made his directorial debut with aWestern film production at Paramount,Heritage of the Desert (1932). Based on aZane Grey novel, Hathaway gave Randolph Scott his first starring role in the film leading to his lengthy career in cowboy roles.[13]
It began a series of Hathaway-directed Scott Westerns from Grey novels,Wild Horse Mesa (1932),The Thundering Herd (1933),Sunset Pass (1933),To the Last Man (1933),Man of the Forest (1933) andThe Last Round-Up (1934).
Hathaway directed an action film set in the Philippines,Come On Marines! (1934) starringRichard Arlen andIda Lupino, followed by a dramaThe Witching Hour (1934), and an earlyShirley Temple film,Now and Forever (1934). The latter also starredCarole Lombard andGary Cooper
Hathaway's next film was with Cooper,The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935). Encouraged by directorPaul Bern, Hathaway traveled to India for nine months in the 1920s to collect documentary footage on Hindu religious pilgrimages. The project was never completed, but Hathaway's experience with the Far East earned him an offer to directThe Lives of a Bengal Lancer.[14]
Hathaway got the job because the film changed directors and Cooper, who had director approval, admired Hathaway's films.[15][16] The movie was a hit and received sevenAcademy Award nominations, includingBest Picture and for which Hathaway won his only nomination for theAcademy Award for Directing.[17][18]
Hathaway was now established as one of the main directors on the Paramount lot.[17] He made another with Cooper,Peter Ibbetson (1935). This was followed byThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), his first color movie, for which Walter Wanger borrowed him, paying him $1000 a week.[16] He also worked on the troubledI Loved a Soldier (1936) which was never finished, and did aMae West movie,Go West, Young Man (1936).
Hathaway was back with Cooper for the anti-slaving adventure story,Souls at Sea (1937), co-starringGeorge Raft. With Raft and Henry Fonda he madeSpawn of the North (1938).
The Real Glory (1939), with Cooper, was a reprise ofBengal Lancers set in the Philippines. After this he had a fight with Paramount and left to join Fox.[19]
Hathaway worked for 20th Century Fox directing the studio's biggest male star,Tyrone Power, inJohnny Apollo (1940) andBrigham Young (1940). Hathaway adored working for Darryl Zanuck calling him the finest filmmaker in America. He says he never turned down a script Zanuck offered him. "Some dogs, yes, but a lot of good ones too," he said.[20]
He returned to Paramount to directJohn Wayne inThe Shepherd of the Hills (1941). ForWalter Wanger, he made another Imperial action film,Sundown (1941).
Back at Fox he madeTen Gentlemen from West Point (1942),China Girl (1942),Wing and a Prayer (1944),Home in Indiana (1944) andNob Hill (1945).
During the 1940s, Hathaway began making films using thesemidocumentary style, often in thefilm noir genre. These includedThe House on 92nd Street (1945), for which he was nominated for a Best Director award by theNew York Film Critics Circle,The Dark Corner (1946),13 Rue Madeleine (1947),Kiss of Death (1947) andCall Northside 777 (1948), in which Hathaway presented one of the first on-screen uses of aFax machine.
Hathaway returned to adventure films withDown to the Sea in Ships (1949). He was reunited with Power forThe Black Rose (1950). Hathaway had some time off for a cancer operation then returned to makeThe Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) was a biopic ofGeneral Rommel. It was followed byFourteen Hours (1951), a noir about a man going to commit suicide,You're in the Navy Now (1951), a military comedy with Cooper, and two with Power:Rawhide (1951), a Western, andDiplomatic Courier (1952).
Hathaway directed the film noirNiagara (1953) which wasMarilyn Monroe's breakthrough role andWhite Witch Doctor (1953) withSusan Hayward andRobert Mitchum. He was reunited with Cooper onGarden of Evil (1954), a Western, then did the swashbucklerPrince Valiant (1954).
AfterThe Racers (1955), with Zanuck's mistressBella Darvi, Hathaway left Fox.[21]
Hathaway made two thrillers withVan Johnson:The Bottom of the Bottle (1956) and23 Paces to Baker Street (1956).
John Wayne hired him to makeLegend of the Lost in 1957 for Wayne's company. Back at Fox, he made the WesternFrom Hell to Texas (1958). During filming,Dennis Hopper attempted to assert himself artistically on the set. Perhaps influenced by his recent experience with fellow actorJames Dean's rebellious attitude on the sets ofRebel Without a Cause (1955) andGiant (1956), Hopper forced Hathaway to shoot more than 80 takes of a scene before he acquiesced to Hathaway's demands. After the shoot, Hathaway reportedly told the young actor that his career in Hollywood was over[citation needed]. Hopper later admitted he was wrong to have disrespected Hathaway as a youth and called him "the finest director I have ever worked with,"[citation needed] and again worked with Hathaway on bothThe Sons of Katie Elder (1965) andTrue Grit (1969).
Hathaway then made a melodrama,Woman Obsessed (1959); and a thriller,Seven Thieves (1960). He was reunited with Wayne on the comedy-action "northern,"North to Alaska (1960).
Hathaway was one of three directors on theCinerama WesternHow the West Was Won (1962), and directed the bulk of the film, including the river, prairie and train robbery sequences. He was meant to direct Wayne inMcLintock! in 1963, but the producers would not meet his salary.[22]
He visited Spain to work with Wayne again onCircus World (1964), on which Wayne asked Hathaway to castJohn Smith in the role of Steve McCabe. From 1959 to 1963, Smith had played rancher Slim Sherman onNBC-TV'sLaramie. An Internet biography of Smith claims that Hathaway developed an intense dislike for the actor and stopped him from landing choice roles thereafter in Hollywood.[23]
Circus World was a box office disappointment, but Wayne and Hathaway's next movie together,The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), was a hit. So too wasNevada Smith (1966), a Western starringSteve McQueen with a story extrapolated from a brief section ofHarold Robbins' novelThe Carpetbaggers.
Hathaway went to Africa to makeThe Last Safari (1967), then directed the Western5 Card Stud (1968) withDean Martin and Robert Mitchum. It was a mild success, butTrue Grit (1969), produced byHal B. Wallis, was a box office success and won John Wayne a Best Actor Oscar.
He stepped in forGeorge Seaton to direct some winter outdoor scenes for the all-stardisaster filmAirport (1970), featuringBurt Lancaster and Dean Martin. Hathaway did it as a favor for Seaton, for no payment.[22]
In 1971, he made a war movie with Richard Burton,Raid on Rommel, and then another Western for Wallis,Shoot Out. Hathaway's 65th and final film wasHangup (1974), ablaxploitation movie. He turned down theTrue Grit sequelRooster Cogburn (1975) as he did not like the script.[22]
Hathaway died from complications of a heart attack atUCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on February 11, 1985, at the age of 86.[3] He is interred atHoly Cross Cemetery inCulver City, California. His body of work earned him a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1638 Vine Street.
grandson of the Marquis de Fiennes who had settled in California after acting as intermediary between the first Belgian king and the Hawaiian authorities in the 1860s.
