William A. Wellman

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William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American movie director.

Wellman's father was a New England Brahmin of English-Welsh-Scottish and Irish descent. William was a great-great-great grandson of Francis Lewis of New York, one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence. His mother, much beloved by the great director, was an Irish immigrant named Cecilia McCarthy.

Wellman was kicked out of high school for dropping a stink bomb on the principal's head.[1] He worked as a salesman and then at a lumber yard, before enlisting in the French Foreign Legion in World War I as an ambulance driver. He later joined the Lafayette Flying Corps (not the sub-unit Lafayette Escadrille as usually stated)[2] as a pilot, earning himself the nickname "Wild Bill" and a Croix de Guerre with two palms.[3]

Actor Douglas Fairbanks took a liking to him and got him a job as an actor.[1] Wellman hated how he looked on film and soon switched to behind the screen, working his way up as "a messenger boy, as an assistant cutter, an assistant property man, a property man, an assistant director, second unit director, and eventually...director."[1] After directing a dozen films (some of which he would rather forget),[1] Wellman was hired by Paramount in 1927 to direct Wings, a major war drama dealing with fighter pilots during World War I that was highlighted by air combat and flight sequences. The film culminates with the epic Battle of Saint-Mihiel. It was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Wellman's other notable films include The Public Enemy, The Story of G.I. Joe, the original 1937 version of A Star Is Born, Nothing Sacred, The Ox-Bow Incident and The High and the Mighty.

Wellman married four times, and had seven children by his fourth wife Dorothy, including actors Michael Wellman, William Wellman Jr., Gloria Wellman and Cissy Wellman. He died in 1975 of leukemia.

Contents

  1. ^ a b c d "Wild Bill": William A. Wellman (interview from issue #29 of Focus on Film). filmlinc.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  2. ^ http://pagesperso-orange.fr/rdisa/html/Frames/lafayette.html
  3. ^ Thomas Quinn Curtiss (February 9, 1994). The Film Career of William Wellman. International Herald Tribune (iht.com). Retrieved on 2007-12-05.

  • William Wellman, Jr. (2006). The Man And His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-98541-5. 

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William A. Wellman
1920s Second Hand Love • The Man Who Won • Big Dan • Cupid's Fireman • Not a Drum Was Heard • The Vagabond Trail • The Circus Cowboy • When Husbands Flirt • The Boob • You Never Know Women • The Cat's Pajamas • Wings • The Legion of the Condemned • Ladies of the Mob • Beggars of Life • Chinatown Nights • The Man I Love • Woman Trap
1930s Dangerous Paradise • Young Eagles • Maybe It's Love • Other Men's Women • The Public Enemy • Night Nurse • The Star Witness • Safe in Hell • The Hatchet Man • So Big! • Love Is a Racket • The Purchase Price • The Conquerors • Frisco Jenny • Central Airport • Lilly Turner • Heroes for Sale • Midnight Mary • Wild Boys of the Road • College Coach • Looking for Trouble • Stingaree • The President Vanishes • The Call of the Wild • The Robin Hood of El Dorado • Small Town Girl • A Star Is Born • Nothing Sacred • Men With Wings • Beau Geste • The Light that Failed
1940s Reaching for the Sun • Roxie Hart • The Great Man's Lady • Thunder Birds • Lady of Burlesque • The Ox-Bow Incident • Buffalo Bill • This Man's Navy • The Story of G.I. Joe • Gallant Journey • Magic Town • The Iron Curtain • Yellow Sky • Battleground
1950s The Next Voice You Hear... • The Happy Years • Across the Wide Missouri • It's a Big Country • Westward the Women • My Man and I • Island in the Sky • The High and the Mighty • Track of the Cat • Blood Alley • Good-bye, My Lady • Darby's Rangers • Lafayette Escadrille
Television Light's Diamond Jubilee (with Alan Handley), Christian Nyby, Roy Rowland, Norman Taurog, King Vidor and Bud Yorkin) (1954)
 This article about a United States film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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