William Berke

William Berke
Nancy Kelly & William Berke on the set of Betrayal from the East - publicity still, 1945
Born	(1903-10-03)October 3, 1903 Milwaukee
Died	February 15, 1958(1958-02-15) (aged 54) Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	Film director, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	1922–1958

William A. Berke (October 3, 1903 – February 15, 1958) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed nearly 90 films between 1934 and 1958. He also produced nearly 80 films between 1933 and 1958. He was born in Milwaukee and died in Los Angeles.

Richard Fleischer later recalled Berke "was known as King of the B's. For years and years he had made nothing but pictures with ten or twelve day shooting schedules, minuscule budgets of about $100,000 and no stars. Without bothering with editing or any postproduction chores and with short shooting schedules, he was able to squeeze in eight or ten pictures a year. And he was going nuts". According to Fleischer, Berke eventually pestered RKO executives enough to be assigned an A picture with a long shooting schedule and stars and he still shot it in twelve days.

Partial filmography

• The Forbidden Trail (1923)
• Gentle Julia (1923) (actor)
• Flashing Spurs (1924)
• Trigger Fingers (1924)
• The Hellion (1924) (actor)
• Galloping Vengeance (1925) (writer)
• Hard Fists (1927) (writer)
• Desert Dust (1927) (writer)
• The Fighting Three (1927) (writer)
• The Golden Stallion (1927) (story by)
• Straight Shootin' (1927) (story by)
• The Flaming Signal (1933) (producer)
• The Woman Who Dared (1933) (produced by)
• Social Error (1935) (producer)
• Aces Wild (1936) (producer)
• Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941) (producer)
• The Lone Prairie (1942) (director)
• Pardon My Gun (1942) (director)
• Frontier Fury (1943) (director)
• Tornado (1943) (director)
• The Fighting Buckaroo (1943) (director)
• Minesweeper (1943) (director)
• Hail to the Rangers (1943) (director)
• Dangerous Passage (1944) (director)
• Riding West (1944) (director)
• Sailor's Holiday (1944) (director)
• Betrayal from the East (1945) (director)
• High Powered (1945) (director)
• Dick Tracy (1945) (director)
• The Falcon's Alibi (1946) (producer)
• Shoot to Kill (1947) (director and producer)
• Jungle Jim (1949)
• On the Isle of Samoa (1950) (director)
• The Bandit Queen (1950) (director and producer)
• I Shot Billy the Kid (1950) (director)
• Law of the Northwest (1951)
• FBI Girl (1951) (director and producer)
• Kaadu (The Jungle) (1952) (director and producer)
• Four Boys and a Gun (1957)
• Street of Sinners (1957)
• Island Women (1958)
• Cop Hater (1958) (director and producer)
• The Mugger (1958) (director and producer)

External links

• William A. Berke at IMDb