| Jean Yarbrough | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 22, 1901 Marianna, Lee County, Arkansas, USA |
| Died | August 2, 1975 (aged 73) |
Jean Yarbrough (August 22, 1901–August 2, 1975) was an American film director.
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He was born in Marianna, the seat of Lee County in southeastern Arkansas. After attending the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, he entered the film business in 1922, first as a propman, but he steadily rose in the ranks to assistant director. Beginning with 1936, he was a bona fide director, first doing comedy and musical shorts for RKO, but in 1938, he already directed his first feature, Rebellious Daughters. His greatest success came in the 1940s, when he directed films that are even today fondly remembered such as The Devil Bat, King of the Zombies, She-Wolf of London, or any number of Abbott and Costello and Bowery Boys comedies. In the 1950s, when the traditional B-movie was on the decline, he had few problems switching to television and directed episodes for many TV-series throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including producing and directing The Abbott and Costello Show. He directed some episodes of The Silent Service and Navy Log, two 1950s military dramas based on true stories of the United States Navy. He also subsequently directed episodes of Walter Brennan's western series, The Guns of Will Sonnett.
Yarbrough's last film, Hillbillys in a Haunted House from 1967, a mix of comedy, horror and country music, was a sad swan song to his career.