Vincent Sherman

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Vincent Sherman (born July 16, 1906 in Vienna , Georgia , † June 18, 2006 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American film director .

Life

Vincent Sherman began his acting career in 1933. After some engagements on Broadway , he came to Hollywood in the same year, where he got roles in the John Barrymore strip Counselor-at-Law , among others . After a few minor roles, he switched to behind the camera towards the end of the decade and, starting in 1939, shot a series of unpretentious B-movies for the Warner Brothers company . His breakthrough came in 1942 with the melodrama The Hard Way , in which Ida Lupino plays a failed actress who wants to lead her younger sister to fame at all costs. Lupino won the New York Film Critics' Award for her portrayal, and Vincent Sherman was assigned one of the most complicated and toughest jobs of all the following year: completing Old Acquaintance , in which Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins play writer friends who argue over a man. The shooting was turbulent from the start. Norma Shearer turned down the lead role alongside Bette Davis. Miriam Hopkins took over the role and from day one the stars fought ceaselessly, so that the first director Edmund Goulding had a heart attack. Others claim that he only faked him to be released from filming. Sherman managed to finish the film, and Bette Davis was so pleased with the outcome that he directed her production of Mr. Skeffington the following year .

In the following years Sherman rose to one of the studio's in- house directors and in his films he was able to combine the often melodramatic turns of the script into a clearly told story. Perhaps his most famous film today is the melodrama The Life of Mrs. Skeffington (1942). Sherman also made three films with Joan Crawford in a row : In the Pay of Satan , The Liar (1950) and Goodbye, My Fancy . The films were all perfectly crafted star vehicles, some of which were very successful at the box office. A short time later, Sherman left his studio and his career quickly dwindled. Until his last job as a director in the early 1980s, he was busy on television. Sherman's last movie was Cervantes - The King's Adventurer with Horst Buchholz from 1967.

In the book People Will Talk by film historian John Kobal , Sherman gave an in-depth interview in which he discussed working with two stars as different as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Vincent Sherman died in Los Angeles in 2006, just under a month before his 100th birthday.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sherman, Vincent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna (Georgia)
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 2006
Place of death Woodland Hills , California