Don McGuire

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Don McGuire (born February 28, 1919 in Chicago , Illinois , † April 13, 1999 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor , screenwriter , director and film producer .

Life

McGuire joined the United States Army during World War II but was fired from service after a car accident. After the Army, he worked temporarily as a photographer for the Chicago Tribune . In the mid-1940s he moved to Los Angeles , where he initially worked as a press agent for the actor Smiley Burnette . In 1945 he was actually only as an accompanist at a casting , but was taken there himself under contract by those responsible at Warner Bros. As a result, he had minor acting roles alongside Red Skelton and Frank Sinatra , with whom he became friends. After two of his scripts were filmed in 1950, he wrote a first screenplay for the music film Resolve to Everything with Frank Sinatra in the lead role in 1951 . Another friendship connected him with Jerry Lewis , in 1954 and 1955 he wrote scripts for two films by the team Lewis and Dean Martin . Also in 1955 he adapted the novel Bad Times at Hondo by Howard Breslin for John Sturges ' thriller City in Fear with Spencer Tracy , Robert Ryan , Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin . The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.

In 1956 he directed for the first time, he shot the western Johnny Concho with Frank Sinatra in the lead role. The following year he directed The Hero of Brooklyn , the first Jerry Lewis film after his partnership with Dean Martin. After one last feature film directing work, McGuire turned to television in the late 1950s. Together with Jackie Cooper he created the sitcom Hennessey , which was produced between 1959 and 1962, and on which he also worked as a writer and director. In the mid-1960s, he retired from the film and television business. In the 1970s, he and Larry Gelbart developed the idea for a film about an unemployed actor who poses as a woman in order to get roles. However, it wasn't until the early 1980s that the idea was implemented after Dustin Hoffman discovered the substance and Tootsie emerged from it. Together with Gelbart and screenwriter Murray Schisgal , McGuire was nominated for an Oscar in 1982.

Don McGuire died in 1999 of complications from a brief, serious illness.

Filmography (selection)

script

  • 1951: Determined to do anything (Meet Danny Wilson)
  • 1954: The circus clown (3 Ring Circus)
  • 1955: Artists and Models (Artists and Models)
  • 1955: Stadt in Angst (Bad Day at Black Rock)
  • 1956: Johnny Concho
  • 1957: The Hero of Brooklyn (The Delicate Delinquent)
  • 1959–1962: Hennesey (TV series)
  • 1982: Tootsie

play

production

  • 1951: Determined to do anything (Meet Danny Wilson)
  • 1960: Hennesey (TV series)
  • 1965: McGhee (TV movie)

Director

  • 1956: Johnny Concho
  • 1957: The Hero of Brooklyn (The Delicate Delinquent)
  • 1960–1961: Hennesey (TV series)
  • 1965: Mona McCluskey (TV series)

Awards

Web links