Irving Cummings | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cummings in 1922 | |
| Born | Irving Caminsky[1][better source needed] (1888-10-09)October 9, 1888 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 18, 1959(1959-04-18) (aged 70) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1903–1954 |
| Spouse | Ruth Sinclair (m.1917) |
| Children | Irving Cummings Jr. |
Irving Cummings[2] (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American film director and actor.
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Born in New York City as Irving Caminsky,[1] Cummings started his acting career at age 16 inDiplomacy.[3] HisBroadway, performances includedIn the Long Run (1909) andObject -- Matrimony (1916).[4] Acting in the Proctor Stock Company, Cummings appeared withLillian Russell and other actresses.[3]
Cummings entered into movies in 1909,[citation needed] acting with theP. A. Powers company inMount Vernon, New York,[5] and quickly became a popular leading man. Few of the films he made as an actor are easily available. Exceptions includeBuster Keaton's first feature film,The Saphead (1920), in which Cummings plays a crooked stockbroker;Fred Niblo's filmSex (1920), one of the first films to depict a new phenomenon in 1920s America, theFlapper; andThe Round-Up (1920), a Western drama starringRoscoe Arbuckle (with the famous tagline "Nobody loves a fat man") and featuringWallace Beery. Around the same time, Cummings started to direct action movies and occasionalcomedies. In 1934, Cummings directedGrand Canary, and in 1929, he was nominated for anAcademy Award for his direction ofIn Old Arizona.[citation needed]
Cummings was known for the big splashy 1930sTechnicolor musicals with popular leading ladies such asBetty Grable,Alice Faye,Carmen Miranda, andShirley Temple (Little Miss Broadway, 1938) he directed at20th Century Fox. He retired in 1954.[3]
Cummings was married toRuth Sinclair, and they had a son, screenwriter and producerIrving Cummings Jr.[3]
On April 18, 1959, Cummings died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital[3] of a heart attack in Hollywood, California, at age 70.[1]
Cummings has a star at 6816Hollywood Boulevard on theHollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.[6] In 1943, as part of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the motion picture industry, Cummings was awarded the Thomas A. Edison Foundation Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in the arts and sciences.[3]
