Walter Lang
Walter Lang | |
---|---|
Born |
Memphis, Tennessee | August 10, 1896
Died |
February 7, 1972 75) Palm Springs, California | (aged
Cause of death | kidney failure |
Resting place | Inglewood Park Cemetery |
Occupation | Film director |
Spouse(s) |
Madalynne Field (m.1937–1972; his death) |
Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director.
Early life
Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piqued his artistic instincts and he began learning the various facets of filmmaking and eventually worked as an assistant director. However, Lang also had ambitions to be a painter and left the United States for a time to join the great gathering of artists and writers in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France. Things did not work out as Lang hoped and he eventually returned home and to the film business.
Career
In 1926, Walter Lang directed his first silent film, The Red Kimona. In the mid-1930s, he was hired by 20th Century Fox where, as a director, he "painted" a number of the spectacular colorful musicals for which Fox Studios became famous for producing during the 1940s. One of Lang's most recognized films is his 1956 epic The King and I for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Directing.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Walter Lang has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6520 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
Lang was married to Madalynne Field (1907–1974) from 1937 until his death. Field, a former actress, had met and befriended Carole Lombard when they were employed as Sennett Bathing Beauties in the late 1920s. Field's film career ended with the demise of Sennett's studio. However, she maintained her friendship with Lombard, and acted as Lombard's secretary until her marriage. She met Lang when he directed Lombard in Love Before Breakfast (1936).
Partial filmography
- The Red Kimona (1925)
- The Golden Web (1926)
- The Ladybird (1927)
- The Night Flyer (1928)
- No More Orchids (1932)
- Meet the Baron (1933)
- The Mighty Barnum (1934)
- Carnival (1935)
- Love Before Breakfast (1936)
- Second Honeymoon (1937)
- The Little Princess (1939)
- Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
- The Blue Bird (1940)
- Tin Pan Alley (1940)
- Week-End in Havana (1941)
- Moon Over Miami (1941)
- Song of the Islands (1942)
- Coney Island (1943)
- State Fair (1945)
- Sentimental Journey (1946)
- Mother Wore Tights (1947)
- When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)
- Sitting Pretty (1948)
- Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
- The Jackpot (1950)
- On the Riviera (1951)
- With a Song in My Heart (1952)
- Call Me Madam (1953)
- There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
- The King and I (1956)
- Desk Set (1957)
- But Not for Me (1959)
- Can-Can (1960)
- The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)
- Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
External links
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