Tay Garnett

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William Taylor Garnett (born June 13, 1894 in Los Angeles , California - † October 3, 1977 in Sawtelle , Los Angeles) was an American director and screenwriter .

Life

Tay Garnett was in World War I fighter pilot . In 1920 he first came to film as a screenwriter . He worked for Hal Roach and Mack Sennett before working behind the camera as a director from 1927. He became known in 1932 for the safely and elegantly staged melodrama Reise ohne Wiederkehr , the last joint work of the popular screen couple Kay Francis and William Powell . Over the next few years, Garnett made films from a wide variety of genres, with a certain preference for adventure films. In 1935 he was responsible for Adventures in the Yellow Sea with Clark Gable , Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery and in 1940 for The House of Seven Sins with Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne . One of the films that are still known today is the adaptation of the novel In the Net of Passions , which he directed for MGM with Lana Turner and John Garfield . The film was unusually explicit in its portrayal of sexual bondage and other human abysses, which is why studio boss Louis B. Mayer initially wanted to prevent the premiere.

In the 1920s in particular, Garnett was also active as a screenwriter, which was only the case in isolated cases in the following decades. From the late 1930s to 1941 he also appeared as a producer for a short time. In 1970 this happened again with The Delta Factor , which he also staged.

Overall, Tay Garnett's career has been inconsistent, with successes lagging behind a long line of routine productions. Since the late 1950s, he has mainly worked for television. He was married to the silent film star Patsy Ruth Miller from 1929 to 1933 , but the marriage ended in divorce. In 1953, he married the actress Mari Aldon in his third marriage . Garnett wrote two autobiographies: Light Up Your Torch and Pull Up Your Tights . He died of leukemia in 1977 at the age of 83 . His ashes were scattered at sea off the coast of Southern California.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Garnett, Tay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garnett, William Taylor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH 3rd October 1977
Place of death Sawtelle , Los Angeles , California , United States