Norman Foster (Director)

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Norman Foster (1938)

Norman Foster (born December 13, 1903 in Richmond , Indiana , † July 7, 1976 in Santa Monica , California ; real name John Hoeffer ) was an American film director , screenwriter and actor .

Life

Foster began volunteering with a local Indiana newspaper before moving to New York, where he hoped to find a better newspaper job but was unsuccessful in his search. Instead, he began an acting career there, making his Broadway debut in 1926. He then played in more than 40 cinema productions from 1929 to 1937, only to appear again as an actor in the 1970s. In 1936 he made his directorial debut with I Cover Chinatown and also took on the leading role in the film.

Subsequently, Foster focused on a career as a director and screenwriter. He made his most important contribution to film history by overseeing six of eight films in the Mr. Moto series from 20th Century Fox with Peter Lorre in both properties between 1937 and 1939 . He then directed three of the best Charlie Chan films with Sidney Toler for the studio .

With Orson Welles he had a lifelong friendship, the roots of which can be found in the production of Hunted by Agents (1943), which Foster had directed from Welles. The director's better-known films also include the western Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with his sister-in-law Loretta Young in the title role, as well as the two films noirs Until the Last Hour (1948) and One Knows Too Much (1950). In the 1940s he also made several films as a freelancer in Mexico.

In the mid-1950s, Foster turned to television and directed, among other things, the Disney series around Davy Crockett , which was then compiled into the movies Davy Crockett, King of the Trappers (1955) and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956). He was also the director of most of the episodes of the Disney series about Zorro , from which the film Zorro cleans up (1958) emerged.

His documentary Navajo was at the Oscars 1953 in the category Documentary Best for the Oscar nominated. In 1957 he was nominated for the DGA Award for directing an episode of the television series Letter to Loretta .

From 1928 to 1935 Foster was married to the actress Claudette Colbert . His subsequent marriage to Sally Blane , who also worked as an actress, lasted from 1935 until his death from cancer at the age of 72. They had two children, Gretchen and Robert.

Filmography (selection)

As an actor

As a director

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Foster, Norman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Norman Foster Hoeffer (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director, screenwriter and actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Richmond , Indiana , United States
DATE OF DEATH 7th July 1976
Place of death Santa Monica , California , United States