Henry Hathaway (1898-1985)

Henry Hathaway was a well respected American film director known principally as a director of Westerns,but who had success in several other genres, particularly films noirs. During his 40-year career he directed over 60 feature movies and became one of the pioneers of location shooting.

Biography

He was born Henri Léopold de Fiennes, on March 13, 1898 in Sacramento, California. His mother was the actress Jean Hathaway and he later adopted her surname. He had the legal right to use the title of Marquis, inherited from his grandfather who was commissioned by the King of Belgium to acquire the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), although with no success. With his father being a stage director and his mother an actress, it was natural for Henri to gravitate to the acting profession.

Early Years

In 1908, aged 10 and still at school, Hathaway began appearing as a child actor with the American Film Company under the director Allan Dwan. Dwan was known for his prolific output of one and two-reels shorts, filmed near the border with Mexico and this influenced Hathaway’s later interest in Western-themed movies.

Hathaway left school in 1912 to join Universal Pictures as an assistant property master. He learned the basics of filmmaking and in 1917 he returned to acting and began playing youth roles. After 2 years in the army working as a gunnery instructor at Fort Wingfield in San Francisco, he returned to Hollywood again as a property manager, working with director Frank Lloyd. In 1923, he worked as an assistant to established directors such as Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg and he was also the assistant to principal director Fred Niblo in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. The remainder of the 1920s saw Hathway continuing with his movie education as an assistant, helping direct notable actors of the day such as Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Clara Bow, and Walter Huston.

Directorial Debut 1932

His debut film as full director was a Western production at Paramount, 'Heritage of the Desert' in 1932. The movie was based on a Zane Grey novel and led to a series of Hathaway-directed low-budget Westerns based on Grey novels, including 'The Thundering Herd' and 'Sunset Pass' in 1933, and 'The Last Round-Up' in 1934.

Paramount also gave him his first non Western directorial project with 'Come on Marines' in 1934. He showed his versatility later that year by following up with a drama 'The Witching Hour' and an early Shirley Temple film, 'Now and Forever'.

Lives of a Bengal Lancer 1935

In the 1920s, Hathaway had spent nine months in India to collect material on Hindu religious pilgrimages for a proposed Paul Bern documentary.. The project never came to fruition but his experience in the Far East gave him the experience to direct 'The Lives of a Bengal Lancer' starring Gary Cooper in 1935. The film was a great commercial success and gained positive critical reviews. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Director, and it cemented Hathaway's growing reputation.

He continued his successful run with another critically praised movie in 1935 'Peter Ibbetson', also starring Gary Cooper, followed by 'The Trail of Lonesome Pine in 1936. Hathaway developed an interest and aptitude for directing action movies. After a Mae West movie, 'Go West, Young Man' in 1936 he directed Cooper again for the anti-slavery adventure story, 'Souls at Sea' in 1937, followed by 'Spawn of the North' the following year. His final film for Paramount was 'The Real Glory' in 1939.

During the WWII years Hathaway made a number of very average films such as 'Brigham Young' in 1940 and 'China Girl' in 1942. He also began to develop an interest in films noirs, making 'Johnny Apollo' in 1940. He continued the noir theme after the war and used an innovative semi-documentary style in such thrillers as 'The House on 92nd Street', in 1945, 'The Dark Corner' the following year and 'Call Northside 777' in 1948.

Hathaway's career had reached its peak and the remainder of the 1950s saw few films of note except for 'The Black Rose' in 1950 and 'Niagara' in 1953.

Career Comeback

He made a comeback in the 1960s, beginning with the John Wayne vehicle, 'North to Alaska' in 1960, and continued with several successful Westerns, 'How the West Was Won' in 1962, 'The Sons of Katie Elder' in 1965 and 'Nevada Smith' in 1966, whilst also directing Wayne to his only Oscar with 'True Grit' in 1969. He and Wayne got on well and In all he directed Wayne in six movies.

In 1970 he directed several location scenes in the disaster movie 'Airport' and his career tailed off with two very ordinary movies in 1971 and the very obviously low budget 'Hang Up' in 1974. It was an undistinguished end to a very distinguished career during which he earned the reputation of solid professionalism.

Personal

Hathaway married Blanche Gonzalez in 1932, and the couple remained together until his death.

Henry Hathaway passed away on February 11, 1985, aged 86. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Henry Hathaway Academy Awards

No Nominations

Henry Hathaway Filmography