Robert Flaherty
Born: 1884-02-16 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA
Died: 1951-07-23
Known For: Directing
Biography
Robert Joseph Flaherty (February 16, 1884 – July 23, 1951) was an American filmmaker who made the first commercially successful feature-length documentary, Nanook of the North (1922), which solidified his reputation and was never able to be equaled in its success, although he continued development of this new genre of narrative documentary with Moana (1926), set in the South Seas, and Man of Aran (1934), filmed in Ireland's Aran Islands. Flaherty is considered the father of both the documentary and the ethnographic film. Flaherty was married to writer Frances Hubbard from 1914 until his death in 1951. Hubbard worked on several of her husband's films, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for Louisiana Story (1948).
Filmography
2025
- Cast of Shadows as self (archival)
2023
- Monica in the South Seas as Self (archival footage)
2010
- A Boatload of Wild Irishmen as Self (archive footage)
1983
- A Letter to Freddy Buache ... (In Memory Of)
1950
- The Titan: Story of Michelangelo ... (Director)
1949
- Guernica ... (Director)
1948
- Louisiana Story ... (Director)
1943
- Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia ... (Director of Photography)
- Why We Fight: The Nazis Strike ... (Director of Photography)
- It's All True ... (Original Story)
1942
- Why We Fight: Prelude to War ... (Director of Photography)
- The Land as Narrator (voice)
1937
- Elephant Boy ... (Director)
1935
- A Night of Storytelling ... (Director of Photography)
1934
- Man of Aran ... (Director)
1933
- The English Potter ... (Director)
1931
- Tabu: A Story of the South Seas ... (Producer)
- Industrial Britain ... (Director)
1928
- White Shadows in the South Seas ... (Co-Director)
1927
- Twenty-Four Dollar Island ... (Director)
1926
- Moana ... (Director)
1925
- The Pottery Maker ... (Director)
1922
- Nanook of the North ... (Producer)
1916
- The Eskimo ... (Director)