Roy Del Ruth

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Roy Del Ruth (born October 18, 1893 in Delaware , † April 27, 1961 in Sherman Oaks , California ) was an American film director .

life and career

Roy Del Ruth was originally a journalist , but then followed his fourteen-year-old brother - the director Hampton Del Ruth (1879-1958) - into the film business. In 1915 he began writing screenplays and worked as a gag writer for Mack Sennett . Two years later he directed for the first time, with comedians such as Billy Bevan and Harry Langdon , among others . At Warner Brothers he mainly shot suburban dramas and crime novels . Here he was Warner's highest paid director in the 1930s and, thanks to his regular filmmaking output, one of the highest earning directors in Hollywood. Cinematically, the contract director Del Ruth never stood out for his distinctive style, but with a mixture of close-ups and medium shots as well as a story-oriented narrative he shot very effectively. In the 1940s he worked at MGM , where he mainly directed musicals , but was less successful than at Warner. In total, he was involved in more than 110 productions as a director, and from the mid-1950s on several television series.

He was married to actress Winnie Lightner (1899–1971) from 1934 until his death . Together they had a son, cameraman Thomas Del Ruth . He died of heart failure on April 27, 1961 . In his honor there is a star on the Walk of Fame .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James L. Neibaur: James Cagney Films of the 1930s . Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4422-4220-3 ( google.de [accessed May 18, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Del Ruth, Roy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Delaware
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1961
Place of death Sherman Oaks