George Fitzmaurice
Born: 1885-02-13 in Paris - France
Died: 1940-06-13
Known For: Directing
Biography
From Wikipedia George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and producer. Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914 until his death in 1940, he directed over 80 films, including several successful movies such as The Son of the Sheik, Raffles, Mata Hari, and Suzy. At the beginning of his directorial career, Fitzmaurice was astute at directing stage actresses in their initial films with the first wave of great Broadway stars that migrated to motion pictures during the World War I era, including Mae Murray, Elsie Ferguson, Fannie Ward, Helene Chadwick, Irene Fenwick, Gail Kane, and Edna Goodrich. Son of the Sheik is his most famous extant silent film, no doubt aided by the sudden death of its star, Rudolph Valentino. Lilac Time is a classic war/romance film. Fitzmaurice however directed scores of silent films of which the majority of them are lost to the ravages of decompostion. Recent discoveries in Gosfilmofond in Russia include 1919's Witness for the Defense with Elsie Ferguson and 1923's Kick In with Bert Lytell. A restoration of his 1928 part talkie hybrid The Barker is winning praise from many film buffs. Rumours of other Fitzmaurice films in Gosfilmofond include 1920s Idols of Clay (with Mae Murray) and Three Live Ghosts with Norman Kerry, Anna Q. Nilsson, Cyril Chadwick, and Edmund Goulding.
Filmography
1961
- The Legend of Rudolph Valentino as Self (archive footage)
1940
- Adventure in Diamonds ... (Director)
1938
- Arsène Lupin Returns ... (Director)
- Vacation from Love ... (Director)
1937
- Live, Love and Learn ... (Director)
- The Emperor's Candlesticks ... (Director)
1936
- Suzy ... (Director)
- Petticoat Fever ... (Director)
1934
- All Men Are Enemies ... (Director)
1932
- As You Desire Me ... (Director)
1931
- Mata Hari ... (Director)
- Strangers May Kiss ... (Director)
- The Unholy Garden ... (Director)
1930
- The Devil to Pay! ... (Director)
- Raffles ... (Director)
- The Bad One ... (Director)
- One Heavenly Night ... (Director)
1929
- His Captive Woman ... (Director)
- The Locked Door ... (Director)
- Tiger Rose ... (Director)
- The Man and the Moment ... (Director)
1928
- Lilac Time ... (Director)
- The Barker ... (Director)
1927
- Rose of the Golden West ... (Director)
- The Night of Love ... (Director)
- The Tender Hour ... (Director)
- The Love Mart ... (Director)
1926
- The Son of the Sheik ... (Director)
1925
- Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ as Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
- A Thief in Paradise ... (Executive Producer)
- The Dark Angel ... (Director)
- His Supreme Moment ... (Director)
1923
- The Cheat ... (Producer)
- Bella Donna ... (Director)
- The Eternal City ... (Director)
1922
- Three Live Ghosts ... (Director)
- To Have and to Hold ... (Director)
- Kick In ... (Director)
- The Man From Home ... (Director)
1921
- Experience ... (Director)
- Paying the Piper ... (Producer)
- Forever ... (Director)
1920
- On with the Dance ... (Director)
- The Right to Love ... (Director)
- Idols of Clay ... (Director)
1919
- The Avalanche ... (Director)
- The Witness for the Defense ... (Director)
- Counterfeit ... (Director)
- Our Better Selves ... (Director)
- Common Clay ... (Director)
- A Society Exile ... (Director)
- The Profiteers ... (Director)
- The Cry of the Weak ... (Director)
1918
- The Naulahka ... (Director)
- The Narrow Path ... (Director)
- A Japanese Nightingale ... (Director)
- The Hillcrest Mystery ... (Director)
- Innocent ... (Director)
1917
- The Recoil ... (Director)
- Sylvia of the Secret Service ... (Director)
- Blind Man's Luck ... (Director)
- The Mark of Cain ... (Director)
- The Hunting of the Hawk ... (Director)
- Vengeance Is Mine ... (Supervisor of Production Resources)
- Kick In ... (Director)
- The On-the-Square Girl ... (Director)
1916
- Big Jim Garrity ... (Director)
- Arms and the Woman ... (Director)
- The Test ... (Director)
- The Romantic Journey ... (Director)
1915
- At Bay ... (Director)
- Stop Thief! ... (Director)
- The Commuters ... (Director)
- Via Wireless ... (Director)
- Who's Who in Society ... (Director)
1914
- When Rome Ruled ... (Director)
- The Bomb Boy ... (Director)