Motion Picture Director. He worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios and is best remembered for his classic family film "Lassie Come Home" (1943, starring Roddy McDowall, Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Elizabeth Taylor), and the science fiction film "Forbidden Planet" (1956, starring Walter Pigeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielson), both of which have been enshrined in the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry. The son of an optometrist and drug store owner, he graduated from the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky before working for MGM in New York City, New York where he became an assistant to film director/writer King Vidor. He gradually worked his way up and received notoriety with his first film as director in "Lassie Come Home." His other notable films include "Courage of Lassie" (1946, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Morgan), "Hills of Home" (1948, starring Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Janet Leigh), "The Secret Garden" (1949, starring Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, and Dean Stockwell), and "I Passed for White" (1960, starring Sonya Wilde and James Franciscus). He died in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 56.
Motion Picture Director. He worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios and is best remembered for his classic family film "Lassie Come Home" (1943, starring Roddy McDowall, Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Elizabeth Taylor), and the science fiction film "Forbidden Planet" (1956, starring Walter Pigeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielson), both of which have been enshrined in the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry. The son of an optometrist and drug store owner, he graduated from the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky before working for MGM in New York City, New York where he became an assistant to film director/writer King Vidor. He gradually worked his way up and received notoriety with his first film as director in "Lassie Come Home." His other notable films include "Courage of Lassie" (1946, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Morgan), "Hills of Home" (1948, starring Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Janet Leigh), "The Secret Garden" (1949, starring Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, and Dean Stockwell), and "I Passed for White" (1960, starring Sonya Wilde and James Franciscus). He died in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 56.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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