1894 - 1982

Already as a teenager he was fascinated of the still young cinema, among others he worked at the Nickelodeon in his neighbourhood. He directed first documentaries in Texas like "The Grand Military Parade" (13) and "The Turn in the Road" (13).
He went to Hollywood in 1915 and conquered the world of film as a writer and director. From 1919 he directed his first movies like "The Other Half" (19), "Poor Relations" (19), "The Family Honor" (20) and "The Jack-Knife Man" (20). It followed "The Sky Pilot" (21) with Colleen Moore and "Peg o' My Heart" (22) with Laurette Taylor.

King Vidor's wife Florence made also a name as an actress and they set up the Florence Vido productions in 1922. King Vidor realised in this time the movies "Real Adventure" (22), "Dusk to Dawn" (22) and "Conquering the Woman" (22), after that the company dissolved again and the married couple got a divorce.

After that King Vidor signed at Metro and directed the movies "Three Wise Fools" (23) - where he met his next wife Eleanor Boardman - "The Woman of Bronze" (23), "Wild Oranges" (24) and "Proud Flesh" (25).

King Vidor caught the jumpto the guild of great directors with the movie "The Big Parade" (25) and achieved with this anti war movie an international success.

After this success he shot two movies with John Gilbert - "La Boheme" (26) and "Bardelys the Magnificent" (26) - then he had a creative break.
He had a triumphant return in 1928 with the movie "The Crowd" (28), which brought him in five Oscar nominations.

After the silent movies "The Patsy" (28) and "Show People" (28) he directed his first sound movie called "Hallelujah" (29), for which was nominated for an Oscar again.

In the 30's he delivered other great movies, so "Not So Dumb" (30), "Billy the Kid" (30), "The Champ" (31), "The Stranger's Return" (33), "Our Daily Bread" (34), "Stella Dallas" (37) and "The Citadel" (38).

King Vidor only directed few but very successful movies in the following two decades like "Northwest Passage" (40), "H.M. Pulham, Esq." (41) and "An American Romance" (44). Because M-G-M cut out long passages out of the last mentioned movie, Vidor turned his back on the studio and directed for David O. Selznick the western "Duel in the Sun" (46).
It followed "Beyond the Forest" (49) with Bette Davis, "Ruby Gentry" (52), "War and Piece" (56) - for which he was nominated for an Oscar for the last time - and finally his last movie "Solomon and Sheba" (59).

King Vidor published his autobiography "A Tree Is a Tree" in 1953 and in 1978 he wrote the book "King Vidor on Filmmaking".

King Vidor got the Honorary Award for his lifework in 1979.
 

Other movies of King Vidor as a Director:
Better Times (19) Love Never Dies (21) Happiness (24) Wine of Youth (24) His Hour (24) The Wife of the Centaur (24) Street Scene (31) Bird of Paradise (32) Cynara (32) The Wedding Night (35) So Red the Rose (35) The Texas Rangers (36) Comrade X (40) On Our Merry Way (48) The Fountainhead (49) Lightning Strikes Twice (51) Japanese War Bride (52) Light's Diamond Jubilee (54) Man Without a Star (55)

Producer:
The Family Honor (20) The Jack-Knife Man (20) Love Never Dies (21) Real Adventure (22) Dusk to Dawn (22) Conquering the Woman (22) Alice Adams (23) Wine of Youth (24) Hallelujah (29) Not So Dumb (30) Billy the Kid (30) The Champf (31) Bird of Paradise (32) Our Daily Bread (34) The Texas Rangers (36) Comrade X (40) An American Romance (44) Ruby Gentry (52)
 
Writer
A Bad Little Good Man (17) The Turn in the Road (19) Better Times (19) The Other Half (19) Poor Relations (19) Love Never Dies (21) Three Wise Fools (23) Wild Oranges (24) His Hour (24) The Crowd (28) Hallelujah (29) Our Daily Bread (34) The Texas Rangers (36) H.M. Pulham, Esq. (41) An American Romance (44) War and Peace (56)