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| Mervny
LeRoy
1900 - 1987 |
.
. The director Mervyn LeRoy began his film career as an actor for the studio of his cousin Jesse Lasky. To his early silent movies belong "Double Speed" (20), "The Ghost Breaker" (22), "Little Johnny Jones" (23), "Going Up" (23), "The Call of the Canyon" (23), "Broadway After Dark" (24) and "The Chorus Lady" (24). But the acting didn't satisfy him and he changed to First National (the company was taken over by Warner Brothers), where he wrote scripts for movies like "Sally" (25), "Irene" (26), "Ella Cinders" (26) and "Orchids and Ermine" (27) for time being, before he found his real passion - the direction. Thanks to his aggressive and ambitious attitude he was able to snatch the direction work for the movie "No Place to Go". In the next years he shot light entertainment movies like "Harold Teen" (28), "Little Johnny Jones" (30) and "Show Girl in Hollywood" (30). After that followed his great succes with the gangster movie "Little Caesar" (30) with the still unknown actor Edward G. Robinson in the main part. They repeated their cooperation for the also very successful productions "Five Star Final" (31) and "Two Seconds" (32). The early 30's shaped the height of Mervyn LeRoy's career. He knew how to narrate his movies in an entertaining way and many early works are regarded as classics today. To these movies belong "Broadminded" (31), "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" (32), "Hard to Handle" (33), "The World Changes" (33), "Heat Lightning" (34), "Sweet Adeline" (34), "Page Miss Glory" (35), "Anthony Adverse" (36) and "They Won't Forget" (37). He left the Warner studios in 1938 and signed a contract at MGM as a producer and director. After two years as a producer for movies like "The Witzard of Oz" (39) - for which he got an Oscar nomination for the best picture - and "At the Circus" (39) with the Marx Brothers he also directed movies again from 1940. These movies distinguished with high quality and were also financial successful. To these movies belong "Waterloo Bridge" (40), "Blossoms in the Dust" (41), "Johnny Eager" (41), "Random Harvest" (42) - for which he was nominated for Oscar for the best direction - "Madame Curie" (43), "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (44), "Homecoming" (48) and "Little Women" (49). In the 50's followed the epos "Quo Vadis?" (51) with a unforgettable
Peter Ustinov and the musical "Million Dollar Mermaid" (52), "Latin Lovers"
(53) and "Rose Marie" (54).
Mervyn LeRoy published his biography in 1974 called "Take One".
Other movies from Mervyn LeRoy: Director:
Producer:
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