Tim Whelan

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Tim Whelan (born November 2, 1893 in Cannelton , Indiana as Timothy Francis Whelan , † August 12, 1957 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American film director , screenwriter and film producer .

life and career

Tim Whelan began his show career in the theater as a director and actor before entering the film business in the early 1920s. He first worked as a screenwriter, especially slapstick - comedy with Harold Lloyd or Harry Langdon . Whelan was one of the screenwriters for Lloyd's silent film classic Skyscraper, of all things! from 1923. At the end of the 1920s, he switched primarily to directing, but continued to occasionally write screenplays until the 1950s, including for his own films.

As the director of a total of around 30 films, Whelan worked not only in Hollywood, but also in England for a long time in the 1930s . He shot his most successful films for producer Alexander Korda , including the romantic comedy The Divorce of Lady X (1938) with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier , the drama St. Martin's Lane (1938) with Vivien Leigh and Charles Laughton , and the spy thriller Testflug QE 97 (1939) with Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Valerie Hobson . Together with Ludwig Berger and Michael Powell , he also directed the lavishly produced adventure film The Thief of Baghdad from 1940. In the early 1940s, after the outbreak of World War II , Whelan returned to the United States. Among other things, he was responsible for Frank Sinatra's debut film Higher and Higher (1943) and headed the Randolph-Scott -Western Land of Bandits (1946) and The City of Dead Souls (1955). In the 1950s he worked as a director for various US television series.

Whelan died in Beverly Hills in 1957 at the age of 63. He was married to the actress Miriam Seegar (1907–2011) from 1932 until his death and they had two sons. The son Michael was born with Down syndrome , the son Tim Whelan Jr. († 1997) later also worked as a director.

Filmography (selection)

Scriptwriter only

As a director

  • 1928: Get married and don't despair (Adam's Apple)
  • 1935: The Murder Man (also screenplay)
  • 1935: The Perfect Gentleman
  • 1938: Night visit (The Divorce of Lady X)
  • 1938: St. Martin's Lane (also screenplay)
  • 1939: Test flight QE 97 (Q Planes)
  • 1940: The Thief of Baghdad (The Thief of Bagdad)
  • 1942: Seven Days' Leave (also producer)
  • 1942: Like a Nightmare (Nightmare)
  • 1943: Swing Fever
  • 1943: Higher and Higher (also producer)
  • 1944: Step Lively
  • 1946: Land of the Bandits (Badman's Territory)
  • 1955: The Devil's Right Hand (Texas Lady)
  • 1955: The City of Dead Souls (Rage at Dawn)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tim Whelan, Sr. | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Tim Whelan Jr. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Whelan, Tim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Whelan, Timothy Francis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Cannelton , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1957
Place of death Beverly Hills , California