Roy Del Ruth

Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker.

Early career

Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for

Following several more titles, many now lost, he directed The First Auto (1927), a charming look at the introduction of the first automobile to a small rural town. Also once believed lost, the film's almost entirely unsynchronised soundtrack features several elaborate sound effects for the time.

Del Ruth directed another half dozen projects before the musical

That same year, he directed the first version of Dashiell Hammett's novel, The Maltese Falcon (1931). Ricardo Cortez portrayed the roguish private eye whose investigation of a murder case entwines him in a plot involving unsavory people searching for a fabled, jewel-encrusted falcon. While the plot somewhat mirrors the 1941 remake, this pre-Code version features sexual innuendo, including Bebe Daniels bathing in the nude, overt references to homosexuality and one instance of cursing.

Del Ruth reunited with James Cagney for the crime drama Taxi! (1932) and then directed the comedy Blessed Event (1932) starring the fast-talking Lee Tracy.

Del Ruth subsequently oversaw such pictures as

Del Ruth next directed The Babe Ruth Story (1948), with Babe Ruth played by William Bendix. Bending historical truths lest he offend, Del Ruth's biopic was rushed through production amidst news of the ailing Ruth's declining health. Del Ruth remained unsatisfied with the results, and the film received largely negative reviews from critics. He directed George Raft again in the noir crime drama Red Light (1949), Milton Berle and Virginia Mayo in the comedy Always Leave Them Laughing (1949), and James Cagney in the vibrant The West Point Story (1950). Two Doris Day musicals, On Moonlight Bay and Starlift (both 1951), Stop, You're Killing Me (1952) and the military musical About Face (1953) followed.

He went on to direct Jane Powell and Gordon MacRae in Three Sailors and a Girl (1953), He then took a short excursion into the initially short-lived 3D process with a horror film starring Karl Malden Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954). Away from the director's chair for the next five years, Del Ruth returned to helm the horror picture The Alligator People (1959), a bizarre tale about humans being partially transformed into alligators in the Deep South. After his film Why Must I Die? (1960), Del Ruth retired.

Death and legacy

Roy Del Ruth died on April 27, 1961, at 67 years of age from a heart attack and was interred in the

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6150 Hollywood Blvd.

In 2019, Del Ruth's film Employees' Entrance was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[1]

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Media related to Roy Del Ruth at Wikimedia Commons
• Works by or about Roy Del Ruth at Wikisource
• Roy Del Ruth at
  IMDb
• Roy Del Ruth at Find a Grave