George Marshall(1891-1975)
- Director
- Writer
- Actor
George Marshall was a versatile American director who came to Hollywood
to visit his mother and "have a bit of fun". Expelled from Chicago
University in 1912, he was an unsettled young man, drifting from job to
job, variously employed as a mechanic, newspaper reporter and
lumberjack with a logging outfit in Washington state. Trying his luck
in the emerging film industry, he got his start at Universal and was
put to work as an extra. His powerful, six-foot frame served him well
for doing stunt work in westerns, earning him a dollar every time he
fell off a horse.
He was first glimpsed on-screen in a bit as a laundry delivery man in
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's
The Waiters' Ball (1916). The
acting gig wasn't to his taste, though, and, within a year he moved on
to writing and directing. The majority of his early assignments were
two-reel westerns and adventure serials, starring the popular
Ruth Roland. A jack-of-all-trades, he was
later prone to remark that in those days he often needed to double as
cameraman and editor, too, often cutting his film with a pair of
scissors and splicing it with cement. In the
1920's, Marshall worked with
cowboy star Tom Mix
and then became a comedy specialist for
Mack Sennett, turning out as many as 60
one- or two-reelers per year. At Fox, he served as supervising director
on all of the studio's comedic output between 1925 and 1930.
At the beginning of the sound era Marshall joined
Hal Roach and directed comedies with
Thelma Todd
(Strictly Unreliable (1932))
and two of Stan Laurel and
Oliver Hardy's best shorts:
Their First Mistake (1932)
and Towed in a Hole (1932)).
Always adept at visual comedy, Marshall directed (and also turned up to
good effect in a cameo as a hard-boiled army cop in)
Pack Up Your Troubles (1932).
Economic conditions forced a downsizing at Roach, and Marshall returned
to Fox in 1934, staying there for four years, then worked at Universal
(1939-40) and Paramount (1942-50, and 1952-54). One of his biggest
critical and financial successes was the classic western
Destry Rides Again (1939),
which re-invigorated the career of
Marlene Dietrich and became Universal's
top box-office hit for the year. He controlled the antics of
W.C. Fields in
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939);
helped Betty Hutton on her way to
stardom with the biopics
Incendiary Blonde (1945) and
The Perils of Pauline (1947);
and directed Alan Ladd in the film
noir classic
The Blue Dahlia (1946). There was
also a fruitful association with
Bob Hope, beginning with
The Ghost Breakers (1940).
Freelancing over the next two decades, Marshall turned out three
superior vehicles for Glenn Ford: a
western (The Sheepman (1958)) and
two comedies (The Gazebo (1959) and
Advance to the Rear (1964)).
He was one of three directors (the other two were
John Ford and
Henry Hathaway) assigned individual
segments of the blockbuster
How the West Was Won (1962).
Towards the end of his long career he helmed several episodes of the
Daniel Boone (1964) and
Here's Lucy (1968) TV series.
With at least 185 directing credits to his name (there may have been as
many as 400, given his prolific output of shorts during the 1910's),
George Marshall retired from making films in 1972 and died three years
later at the age of 83. He has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood
Boulevard.
to visit his mother and "have a bit of fun". Expelled from Chicago
University in 1912, he was an unsettled young man, drifting from job to
job, variously employed as a mechanic, newspaper reporter and
lumberjack with a logging outfit in Washington state. Trying his luck
in the emerging film industry, he got his start at Universal and was
put to work as an extra. His powerful, six-foot frame served him well
for doing stunt work in westerns, earning him a dollar every time he
fell off a horse.
He was first glimpsed on-screen in a bit as a laundry delivery man in
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's
The Waiters' Ball (1916). The
acting gig wasn't to his taste, though, and, within a year he moved on
to writing and directing. The majority of his early assignments were
two-reel westerns and adventure serials, starring the popular
Ruth Roland. A jack-of-all-trades, he was
later prone to remark that in those days he often needed to double as
cameraman and editor, too, often cutting his film with a pair of
scissors and splicing it with cement. In the
1920's, Marshall worked with
cowboy star Tom Mix
and then became a comedy specialist for
Mack Sennett, turning out as many as 60
one- or two-reelers per year. At Fox, he served as supervising director
on all of the studio's comedic output between 1925 and 1930.
At the beginning of the sound era Marshall joined
Hal Roach and directed comedies with
Thelma Todd
(Strictly Unreliable (1932))
and two of Stan Laurel and
Oliver Hardy's best shorts:
Their First Mistake (1932)
and Towed in a Hole (1932)).
Always adept at visual comedy, Marshall directed (and also turned up to
good effect in a cameo as a hard-boiled army cop in)
Pack Up Your Troubles (1932).
Economic conditions forced a downsizing at Roach, and Marshall returned
to Fox in 1934, staying there for four years, then worked at Universal
(1939-40) and Paramount (1942-50, and 1952-54). One of his biggest
critical and financial successes was the classic western
Destry Rides Again (1939),
which re-invigorated the career of
Marlene Dietrich and became Universal's
top box-office hit for the year. He controlled the antics of
W.C. Fields in
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939);
helped Betty Hutton on her way to
stardom with the biopics
Incendiary Blonde (1945) and
The Perils of Pauline (1947);
and directed Alan Ladd in the film
noir classic
The Blue Dahlia (1946). There was
also a fruitful association with
Bob Hope, beginning with
The Ghost Breakers (1940).
Freelancing over the next two decades, Marshall turned out three
superior vehicles for Glenn Ford: a
western (The Sheepman (1958)) and
two comedies (The Gazebo (1959) and
Advance to the Rear (1964)).
He was one of three directors (the other two were
John Ford and
Henry Hathaway) assigned individual
segments of the blockbuster
How the West Was Won (1962).
Towards the end of his long career he helmed several episodes of the
Daniel Boone (1964) and
Here's Lucy (1968) TV series.
With at least 185 directing credits to his name (there may have been as
many as 400, given his prolific output of shorts during the 1910's),
George Marshall retired from making films in 1972 and died three years
later at the age of 83. He has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood
Boulevard.