Film Director, Producer, Screenwriter. Born Howard Winchester Hawks in Goshen, Indiana, the oldest son of Helen Howard and Frank W. Hawks, a successful paper manufacturer. By 1910, the family had settled in Pasadena, California, and in 1916, he gained entry into the infant film industry through the prop department. Upon serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Signal Corps' Aviation Section during World War I (WWI) which saw him teaching aviators how to fly, he made his uncredited directorial debut at 25 when he shot a scene in 'The Little Princess' (1921) with Mary Pickford during the director's absence. He would not be given a film of his own until 1926's 'The Roads to Glory' which he immediately followed with 'Fig Leaves,' his first comedy starring Olive Borden. 'The Dawn Patrol' (1930) was his first talkie, and contained aerial footage shot from a plane that was piloted by Hawks. Other classic aviation films Hawks helmed are: 'Only Angels Have Wings' (1939) & 'Air Force' (1943). Other now classic films followed including: 'Twentieth Century' (1934), his first screwball comedy; the gangster classic 'Scarface' (1932); 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938) with Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn; a rewrite of the Hecht-MacArthur script, 'The Front Page' into 'His Girl Friday' (1940), changing the gender of the editor and reporter from two men to a man and a woman; both 'Ball of Fire' with Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck and 'Sergeant York' in 1941 (also starring Gary Cooper with Walter Brennan), the latter earning him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director. He was often very involved in writing screenplays for his films, but seldom asked for a screen writing credit. He first teamed Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Ernest Hemingway's 'To Have and Have Not (1944), and remade his own 'Ball of Fire' in 1948 as the musical, 'A Song Is Born' with Danny Kaye & Virginia Mayo. He worked with John Wayne for the first time on Red River (1948), along with introducing Montgomery Clift as well. He again worked with Bogart and Bacall in Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep' (1946), and again with Cary Grant in 1949's 'I Was a Male War Bride.' His output slowed in the 1950s but in 1951, he produced the sci-fi horror cult favorite, 'The Thing from Another World'; 1953 saw his penultimate comedy, 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,' with Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell and in 1959, 'Rio Bravo ' starring John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson & Walter Brennan was lauded as the quintessential Western. 'El Dorado ' (1966) with Wayne & Robert Mitchum might be described as either a sequel to or a remake of 'Rio Bravo,' while 'Rio Lobo' (1970), was a variation on the theme, and would be his last film. In 1974, he received an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1996, he was voted the fourth greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Film Director, Producer, Screenwriter. Born Howard Winchester Hawks in Goshen, Indiana, the oldest son of Helen Howard and Frank W. Hawks, a successful paper manufacturer. By 1910, the family had settled in Pasadena, California, and in 1916, he gained entry into the infant film industry through the prop department. Upon serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Signal Corps' Aviation Section during World War I (WWI) which saw him teaching aviators how to fly, he made his uncredited directorial debut at 25 when he shot a scene in 'The Little Princess' (1921) with Mary Pickford during the director's absence. He would not be given a film of his own until 1926's 'The Roads to Glory' which he immediately followed with 'Fig Leaves,' his first comedy starring Olive Borden. 'The Dawn Patrol' (1930) was his first talkie, and contained aerial footage shot from a plane that was piloted by Hawks. Other classic aviation films Hawks helmed are: 'Only Angels Have Wings' (1939) & 'Air Force' (1943). Other now classic films followed including: 'Twentieth Century' (1934), his first screwball comedy; the gangster classic 'Scarface' (1932); 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938) with Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn; a rewrite of the Hecht-MacArthur script, 'The Front Page' into 'His Girl Friday' (1940), changing the gender of the editor and reporter from two men to a man and a woman; both 'Ball of Fire' with Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck and 'Sergeant York' in 1941 (also starring Gary Cooper with Walter Brennan), the latter earning him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director. He was often very involved in writing screenplays for his films, but seldom asked for a screen writing credit. He first teamed Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Ernest Hemingway's 'To Have and Have Not (1944), and remade his own 'Ball of Fire' in 1948 as the musical, 'A Song Is Born' with Danny Kaye & Virginia Mayo. He worked with John Wayne for the first time on Red River (1948), along with introducing Montgomery Clift as well. He again worked with Bogart and Bacall in Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep' (1946), and again with Cary Grant in 1949's 'I Was a Male War Bride.' His output slowed in the 1950s but in 1951, he produced the sci-fi horror cult favorite, 'The Thing from Another World'; 1953 saw his penultimate comedy, 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,' with Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell and in 1959, 'Rio Bravo ' starring John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson & Walter Brennan was lauded as the quintessential Western. 'El Dorado ' (1966) with Wayne & Robert Mitchum might be described as either a sequel to or a remake of 'Rio Bravo,' while 'Rio Lobo' (1970), was a variation on the theme, and would be his last film. In 1974, he received an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1996, he was voted the fourth greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Bio by: Iola
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