Prolific English-born director of silent films, in America from the early 1900s. Began with the Edison company in New Jersey as an actor in 1908. He worked as a director of short films from 1911-15, graduating to features. Highly regarded in the 1920s, though fired from the set of
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), which was being filmed in Italy, and replaced by
Fred Niblo after budgetary excesses and the deaths of several Italian extras during filming. Under contract with MGM, 1929-34. Possibly his best sound picture was
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), but a close second would have to be the gritty, violent
The Beast of the City (1932), the kind of tough, gun-blasting gangster picture one would expect from Warners, not the genteel MGM. Fired again while directing
Rasputin and the Empress (1932) after clashing with the fiery Barrymores. Retired two years later.