Nathan Juran
Nathan Juran | |
---|---|
Palos Verdes, California, United States | |
Occupation | Film art director |
Known for | Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 |
Notable work | How Green Was My Valley |
Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran (September 1, 1907 – October 23, 2002) was an Austrian-born film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for How Green Was My Valley, along with Richard Day and Thomas Little. His work on The Razor's Edge in 1946 also received an Academy nomination. In the 1950s, he began to direct, and was known for science fiction and fantasy films such as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. He was also the brother of quality guru Joseph M. Juran.
Life and career
Early life
Juran was born to a Jewish family in
In 1912, he emigrated to America with his family, settling in Minneapolis. He earned a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota. He also spent a summer studying at the École des Beaux-Arts before earning a master's degree in Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He passed the architect's exam and set up his own office as an architect.[2]
Art department
With the construction industry at a standstill due to the Great Depression, Juran moved to Los Angeles. He sought architecture work at the studios and got a job doing a drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge for RKO Radio Pictures. He managed to get a permanent job as a draftsman in the art department. He was an assistant art director on Quality Street (1937).
Juaran later moved to
Fox liked his work and put Juran under contract. His early credits as art director included
Juran also worked on I Wake Up Screaming (1941), A Gentleman at Heart (1942), Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942), The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942), Dr. Renault's Secret (1942), It's Everybody's War (1942, a short), and That Other Woman (1942).
Juran enlisted in the Navy during the Second World War in July 1942 and was assigned to first the Office of Strategic Services and then to the Royal Air Force Intelligence Center.[5]
After the war, Juran returned to Fox, winning an
Juran accepted a seven-year contract to be head of the art department for
Universal
Juran then signed a long-term contract with Universal, where he was the art director on Free for All (1949), Undertow (1949), Winchester '73 (1950), Deported (1950), Harvey (1950), Bright Victory (1951), Thunder on the Hill (1951), Reunion in Reno (1951), Cave of Outlaws (1951), The Strange Door (1951), Meet Danny Wilson (1951), Bend of the River (1952) and Untamed Frontier (1952).[3]
Director
Juran was assigned as art department head for The Black Castle (1952), when director Joseph Pevney dropped out shortly before filming. Juran was asked to take over as director two weeks prior to filming.[6]
Universal was happy with Juran's work and signed him to a one-year directing contract. He made an Audie Murphy Western Gunsmoke (1952), and a Ronald Reagan Western Law and Order (1953), then did The Golden Blade (1953), an "Eastern" with Rock Hudson and Tumbleweed (1953) with Murphy.
Juran went to Italy in 1954 to direct a swashbuckler, Knights of the Queen (1954), based on The Three Musketeers. He then directed some episodes of a TV series based on the movie.
Juran returned to Hollywood to direct an independent film, Highway Dragnet (1954) based on a story by Roger Corman. After The Big Moment (1954) at Paramount he went back to Universal to do Drums Across the River (1954) with Murphy.[7]
Juran directed episodes of Fury (1954), Crossroads and My Friend Flicka on TV, and The Crooked Web (1955) for Sam Katzman at Columbia.[8]
Science fiction and fantasy
Juran's first science fiction film was The Deadly Mantis (1957) at Universal. He followed this with Hellcats of the Navy (1957) starring Ronald Reagan and his wife (who was billed as Nancy Davis). It was his first film for producer Charles H. Schneer. Schneer hired Juran for 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. This film established Juran in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
Schneer hired him to do another movie with Harryhausen, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1957). It was a commercial and critical success. Instead of continuing with A features, he accepted two jobs "for the money", in his own words:[9] The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) then Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1957). Both became cult classics.[10] He was unhappy with how Arous turned out and arranged for his billing to be "Nathan Hertz".
Juran did a Western for Schneer,
Juran got back into features with a motion picture he wrote himself,
Jurana did some second unit directing on MGM's
Television
Juran turned to television in 1959. He directed episodes of A Man Called Shenandoah and Daniel Boone, and episodes of all four of Irwin Allen's 1960s science fiction series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.
Last films
He did a feature for Schneer, Land Raiders (1970), a Western, before an operation for cancer prompted him to retire in 1970. Juran returned from retirement to direct The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973) with his old Sinbad star, Kerwin Mathews. He then returned to his first career, architecture.[14]
In 1999, he was honored with the Lifetime Career Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, USA.
He died at the age of 95 in
Partial filmography
- As art director
- How Green Was My Valley (1942)
- The Razor's Edge (1946)
- As director
- The Black Castle (1952)
- Law and Order (1953)
- Gunsmoke (1953)
- The Golden Blade (1953)
- Tumbleweed (1953)
- Drums Across the River (1954)
- Highway Dragnet (1954)
- The Crooked Web (1955)
- The Deadly Mantis (1957)
- 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
- Hellcats of the Navy (1957)
- The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
- Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
- Good Day for a Hanging (1959)
- Flight of the Lost Balloon (1961)
- Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961)
- Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
- Siege of the Saxons (1963)
- First Men in the Moon (1964)
- East of Sudan (1964)
- Land Raiders (1970)
- The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)
References
- OCLC 52877405
- ^ Swires, April 1989 p 58
- ^ a b "Interview with Nathan Juran". Directors Guild of America.
- ProQuest 106159127.
- The Los Angeles Times, p. B12
- ^ a b Swires, April 1989 p 59
- ProQuest 166526938.
- ProQuest 166828103.
- ^ "Swires, May 1989 p 56".
- ProQuest 167205526.
- ProQuest 167892321.
- ^ Westfahl, Gary, Gary Westfahl's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film, retrieved 2008-04-05
- ProQuest 116532306.
- ^ Swires, May 1989 p 62
Notes
- Swires, Steve (April 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part One". Starlog Magazine. No. 141. pp. 56–62.
- Swires, Steve (May 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part Two". Starlog Magazine. No. 142. pp. 55–59.
External links
- Nathan Juran at IMDb
- Obituary at Los Angeles Times
- Interview with Juran at Directors Guild of America
- Nathan Juran collection at Margaret Herrick Library