Fred F. Sears

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Frederick Francis Sears (born July 7, 1913 in Boston , Massachusetts , † November 30, 1957 in Hollywood ) was an American director and actor .

Life

Sears had to drop out of school at Boston College as a result of the Great Depression in 1929 . He then went to New York at the age of 24 . There he made his stage debut in January 1937 in the play 'Tide Rising' . Until the end of 1940 he appeared on Off- Broadway , including in 1938 in 'Censored' and 'Lorelei' and in 1940 in 'Quiet, Please!' and 'Cue for Passion' . He later tried his hand at stage direction and production at the Westchester Playhouse, also in New York.

In 1941 he took over the management of the Little Theater in Memphis . In the same town, Sears also taught classical acting at Southwestern University. In 1943 he joined the United States Army . Immediately after the end of World War II , he moved to Hollywood. In 1945 he was signed to Columbia Pictures as an actor. Between 1947 and 1952 he played in almost 60 films, but mostly in small roles without naming them in the credits. In 1952 he was hired by Harry Cohn , then President of Columbia Pictures, as a director. From 1953 to 1957 he directed 29 feature films. He was not limited to a certain genre, so he shot the rock and roll music film Out of Edge and Band with Bill Haley and the B-movie Flying Saucers Attack , as well as several westerns .

On November 30, 1957, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage in his Columbia Studios office .

Filmography (selection)

Director
  • 1953: To the last bullet (The Nebraskan)
  • 1953: The Hour of Reckoning (Ambush at Tomahawk Gap)
  • 1954: Fumigated (The Miami Story)
  • 1954: The Outlaw Stallion
  • 1954: Gallows Birds (Wyoming Renegades)
  • 1954: Overland Pacific (Overland Pacific)
  • 1955: The Big Scam (Chicago Syndicate)
  • 1955: Cell 2455 Death Row
  • 1956: Flying Saucers Attack (Earth vs the Flying Saucers)
  • 1956: Except of hand (Rock Around the Clock)
  • 1956: Out of Edge and Volume 2 Part (Don't Knock the Rock)
  • 1956: Cha-Cha-Cha (Cha Cha Cha Boom)
  • 1957: Attack by the giant claw
  • 1957: The Night the World Exploded
  • 1957: Calypso fever (Calypso Heat Wave)
  • 1957: The Jungle of Manhattan (Rumble on the Docks)
  • 1958: The Devil Will Take Them All (Badman's Country)
actor
  • 1949: The Mountain of Terror (Lust for Gold)

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