30 Years of Brilliance: 1930-1959
He was born Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke. He never knew his father, but spent his childhood on the road with his mother, who appeared in a variety of roles in vaudeville and traveling stock companies.
Through a chance meeting, Van Dyke got a job as an assistant to D.W.Griffith on the director's 'Intolerance:Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages' in 1916. By the following year Van Dyke had graduated to the director's chair, with a series of Westerns including 'The Land of Long Shadows' in 1917, and continued cranking out low-budget Westerns for a decade, until MGM asked him to replace documentary maker Robert Flaherty on the film 'White Shadows in the South Seas' in 1928, which Van Dyke did with his customary speed and facility.
A no-nonsense taskmaster, Van Dyke was legendarily hard on casts and crews, pushing them to their limits to get his films in on time and under budget, much to the delight of his bosses. With 'White Shadows' salvaged, MGM handed Van Dyke the task of directing 'Trader Horn' in 1931, the first sync-sound film ever shot in Africa. A rousing adventure tale, it was a box-office hit.
Returning from Africa after a bruising expedition, the prolific Van Dyke directed a number of genre classics, including 'Tarzan the Ape Man' in 1932, before making a lasting name for himself with 'The Thin Man' in 1934. Based on a crime novel by Dashiell Hammett, 'The Thin Man' was shot in just 12 days. The film was an enormous hit, and Van Dyke's fortune was assured. He remained popular with his bosses at MGM and continued working feverishly until his death in 1943.
W.S. Van Dyke was the consummate studio craftsman, willing to take on any project, utterly lacking in personal vanity, and always conscious of the bottom line. He was also a remarkable stylist.
He was a staunch Christian Scientist and for the last years of his life when he was fighting cancer and a failing heart, he refused medical care. In 1943, already gravely ill, he finished directing his last film, 'Journey for Margaret' a moving illustration of the future that America was fighting for. He then said goodbye to his wife and family and committed suicide.
