Charles Vidor
Charles Vidor | |
---|---|
Home of Peace Memorial Park | |
Occupation | Film director |
Years active | 1929–1959 |
Spouses | Frances Varone
(m. 1925; div. 1932)Doris Warner (m. 1945) |
Children | 3 |
Charles Vidor (born Károly Vidor; July 27, 1900 – June 4, 1959)[1] was a Hungarian film director. Among his film successes are The Bridge (1929), The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942), The Desperadoes (1943), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), Over 21 (1945), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Rhapsody (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Swan (1956), The Joker Is Wild (1957), and A Farewell to Arms (1957).
Life and career
Born Károly Vidor in
Early Hollywood career
In 1922, Vidor emigrated to the United States. He worked as a basso for the English Grand Opera Company. He was a chorus boy in Love Song and worked on Hudson Bay as a longshoreman.[2]
Vidor went to Hollywood where he worked as Korda's assistant. He attracted acclaim for a low budget short he made in his spare time with his own money, The Bridge (1929).[2] This led to a contract at Universal Pictures to work in the editorial department.[3]
He did some uncredited directing on MGM's The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932).[2] His first credited feature as director was Sensation Hunters (1933) for Monogram Pictures. Vidor followed it with Double Door (1934) at Paramount.
RKO
Vidor accepted a contract to work at RKO Pictures. While there he directed Strangers All (1935), His Family Tree (1935), The Arizonian (1935), and Muss 'Em Up (1936).
Paramount
Vidor went back to Paramount where he directed A Doctor's Diary (1937), The Great Gambini (1937), and She's No Lady (1937).
Columbia Pictures
Vidor signed with Columbia Pictures where he directed Romance of the Redwoods (1939), Blind Alley (1939) and Those High Grey Walls (1939). These were lower budgeted productions but they were well received. "I enjoyed those little pictures", he said later.[2]
Vidor was loaned out to
Vidor was loaned to Paramount to direct New York Town (1941) and RKO for The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942).
Back at Columbia, Vidor directed the studio's first Technicolor movie, The Desperadoes (1943). He followed it with the Rita Hayworth–Gene Kelly musical, Cover Girl (1944) which was a huge success. On June 11, 1944 Vidor signed a seven-year contract with Columbia.[4]
Vidor did
After Over 21 (1946) with Irene Dunne, Vidor directed another classic film with Gilda (1946) starring Hayworth and Glenn Ford.
Clashes with Harry Cohn
Vidor was Columbia's leading director but he was fighting with head of production Harry Cohn – for instance, Cohn wanted Vidor to direct Johnny O'Clock but Vidor refused.[5]
He started directing
In 1946 Vidor sued Columbia, seeking to be released from his contract and $78,000 in damages. The case went to trial, where Vidor argued that he had been treated badly by Cohn, who swore at him. (Cohn admitted the swearing but said this was his way of expressing himself.) He also said Cohn would not loan him $25,000 to buy a new house and that Cohn made him cry twice by yelling at him.[6][5][7][8] The judge ruled against Vidor, ordering him back to work.[5][9] Vidor began directing Ford and William Holden in The Man from Colorado (1949) but clashed with Cohn once more over the shooting schedule and was fired during filming for being too slow, being replaced by Levin.[10]
The matter settled and Vidor was reunited with Hayworth and Ford for the expensive The Loves of Carmen (1948).[11] Columbia exercised their option under Vidor's contract.[4]
In 1948 Vidor announced he had purchased rights to Sirocco, a French Foreign Legion tale based on the novel Coup de Grace he wanted to make with Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart.
In August 1949 Vidor was assigned the musical The Petty Girl (1950). He refused to do it, Columbia put him on suspension, and Vidor told Columbia that he considered his contract with them at an end. (He was replaced on The Petty Girl by Levin). In September Columbia sued Vidor to stop him walking out on the contract.[4][13]
In October 1949 Vidor bought himself out of his contract for $75,000 at $15,000 a year for five years. Louis B. Mayer had acted as intermediary "for the good of the industry". Vidor's career had two years to run, at $3,000 a week then $3,500 a week.[14]
MGM
In December 1949 Vidor signed a contract with MGM to direct The Running of the Tide[15] which was never made.
Vidor was one of several directors on MGM's It's a Big Country (1951).[16]
Vidor went to Paramount with a project he had developed himself,
At MGM Vidor did a musical with Elizabeth Taylor, Rhapsody (1954) and a biopic of Ruth Etting, Love Me or Leave Me (1955), a big success. Vidor directed Grace Kelly's last movie, The Swan (1956).
In 1956 he announced he had formed his own company, Aurora, to make The Life of Nijinsky.[19]
Final years
Vidor went into partnership with Frank Sinatra and Joe E. Lewis to make a biopic of the latter, The Joker Is Wild (1957). Sinatra and Vidor were going to reunite on Kings Go Forth[20] but then David O. Selznick hired Vidor to make the troubled A Farewell to Arms (1957), replacing John Huston.[21]
Vidor's last film was an attempt to repeat the success of A Song to Remember, another biopic of a composer, in this case
Personal life
He was married four times:
- Frances Varone 1927–1931
- the actress Karen Morley 1932–1943 (separated 1940)[24]
- the actress Evelyn Keyes 1944–1945
- Doris Warner, daughter of Warner Bros. President Harry Warner, 1945–1959 (until his death)
He had three sons – Quentin, Brian and Michael.[23]
Death
Charles Vidor died at the age of 58 in
Recognition
Vidor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6676 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to motion pictures.[27]
Filmography
- The Bridge (1929 short)
- The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) (uncredited)
- Sensation Hunters (1933)
- Double Door (1934)
- Strangers All (1935)
- The Arizonian (1935)
- His Family Tree (1935)
- Muss 'em Up(1936)
- Sinister House(1936)
- A Doctor's Diary (1937)
- The Great Gambini (1937)
- She's No Lady (1937)
- Romance of the Redwoods (1939)
- Blind Alley (1939)
- Those High Grey Walls (1939)
- My Son, My Son! (1940)
- The Lady in Question (1940)
- They Dare Not Love (1941) (uncredited co-director)
- Ladies in Retirement (1941)
- New York Town (1941)
- The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942)
- The Desperadoes (1943)
- Cover Girl (1944)
- Together Again (1944)
- A Song to Remember (1945)
- Over 21 (1945)
- Gilda (1946)
- The Loves of Carmen (1948)
- The Man from Colorado (1949)
- It's a Big Country (1951)
- Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
- Thunder in the East(1952)
- Rhapsody(1954)
- Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
- The Swan (1956)
- The Joker Is Wild (1957)
- A Farewell to Arms (1957)
- Song Without End (1960)
References
- ^ Barson, Michael. "Charles Vidor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ ProQuest 106910196.
- ProQuest 162489695.
- ^ ProQuest 165983510.
- ^ a b c "Naughty Words Described in Vidor Contract Fight: Director Suing for Film Release Confuses Judge". Los Angeles Times. Dec 11, 1946. p. A1.
- ProQuest 165727056.
- ProQuest 165710739.
- ProQuest 165724378.
- ProQuest 165731085.
- ^ "VIDOR AND COLUMBIA ROW BREAKS OUT ANEW". Los Angeles Times. Mar 21, 1947. p. 2.
- ProQuest 108061665.
- ProQuest 108131814.
- ^ ProQuest 105753559.
- ProQuest 165996529.
- ProQuest 105842925.
- ProQuest 166064345.
- ProQuest 166173307.
- ProQuest 112499197.
- ProQuest 179719965.
- ProQuest 167078473.
- ProQuest 167128567.
- ProQuest 509902479.
- ^ ProQuest 167437141.
- ProQuest 165418998.
- ^ Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography, John Coldstream
- ^ Resting Places
- ^ "Charles Vidor". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
External links
- Charles Vidor at IMDb
- Charles Vidor at Find a Grave