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IMDbPro

Walter Lang(1896-1972)

  • Director
  • Writer
  • Additional Crew
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Walter Lang
Trailer for this classic directed by Walter Lang
Play trailer2:18
Desk Set (1957)
1 Video
3 Photos
Walter Lang entered the film industry in New York when he got a job as a clerk in the office of a film production company. He worked his way up to assistant director, and directed his first film in 1926. By the time sound arrived Lang was already a well-regarded director, but he left the business at that time to try his hand as an artist in Paris. His venture into that medium was unsuccessful, and he returned to Hollywood a few years later. In the mid-'30s Lang was hired at 20th Century-Fox, and it was there he found his niche. He was one of the talents responsible for the glossy, splashy Technicolor musicals Fox was famous for in the 1940s and 1950s, films such as Tin Pan Alley (1940), Moon Over Miami (1941), Coney Island (1943) and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Always well respected by his contemporaries (Betty Grable once said that he was one of the few true gentlemen she had ever met), Lang ended his long and productive career in 1961 with Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961).
BornAugust 10, 1896
DiedFebruary 7, 1972(75)
BornAugust 10, 1896
DiedFebruary 7, 1972(75)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar

Photos

Carole Lombard and Walter Lang in Love Before Breakfast (1936)
Carole Lombard and Walter Lang

Known for

Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
The King and I
7.4
  • Director
  • 1956
Call Me Madam (1953)
Call Me Madam
6.8
  • Director
  • 1953
Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan in Can-Can (1960)
Can-Can
6.3
  • Director
  • 1960
Shirley Temple, Richard Greene, Ian Hunter, Anita Louise, Beryl Mercer, and Arthur Treacher in The Little Princess (1939)
The Little Princess
7.1
  • Director
  • 1939

Credits

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IMDbPro

Director

  • Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Buddy Baer, Joe DeRita, Carol Heiss, Patricia Medina, Guy Rolfe, and Edson Stroll in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
    Snow White and the Three Stooges
  • The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)
    The Marriage-Go-Round
  • Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan in Can-Can (1960)
    Can-Can
  • But Not for Me (1959)
    But Not for Me
  • Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Desk Set (1957)
    Desk Set
  • Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
    The King and I
  • There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
    There's No Business Like Show Business
  • Call Me Madam (1953)
    Call Me Madam
  • Susan Hayward in With a Song in My Heart (1952)
    With a Song in My Heart
  • Gene Tierney, Danny Kaye, and Corinne Calvet in On the Riviera (1951)
    On the Riviera
  • James Stewart and Barbara Hale in The Jackpot (1950)
    The Jackpot
  • Myrna Loy, Jeanne Crain, Walter Baldwin, Betty Barker, Barbara Bates, Patti Brady, Denise Courtemarche, Teddy Driver, Jimmy Hunt, Roddy McCaskill, Carol Nugent, Norman Ollestad, Anthony Sydes, Clifton Webb, and Judy Ann Whaley in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
    Cheaper by the Dozen
  • Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey in You're My Everything (1949)
    You're My Everything
  • When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)
    When My Baby Smiles at Me
  • Maureen O'Hara, Robert Young, and Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty (1948)
    Sitting Pretty

Writer

  • Elissa Landi in The Warrior's Husband (1933)
    The Warrior's Husband
  • Racetrack (1933)
    Racetrack
  • Alice White in The Satin Woman (1927)
    The Satin Woman

Additional Crew

  • Autodefensa (2022)
    Autodefensa
  • The Carnival Girl

Videos1

Desk Set
Trailer 2:18
Desk Set

Personal details

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    • August 10, 1896
    • Memphis, Tennessee, USA
    • February 7, 1972
    • Palm Springs, California, USA(kidney failure)
    • Madalynne Field1937 - February 7, 1972 (his death)
    • Richard Lang
    • Fritz Lang(Aunt or Uncle)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 5 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Directed six actors to Oscar nominations: Clifton Webb (Best Actor, Sitting Pretty (1948)), Dan Dailey (Best Actor, When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)), Susan Hayward (Best Actress, With a Song in My Heart (1952)), Thelma Ritter (Best Supporting Actress, With a Song in My Heart (1952)), Yul Brynner (Best Actor, The King and I (1956)), and Deborah Kerr (Best Actress, The King and I (1956)). Brynner won an Oscar for his performance in Lang's film.
  • Quotes
    [on Alice Faye] Alice had a quality, a feminine warmth that none of the other girls seemed to have at the time, not Betty Grable or any of them; and for that reason I think she was a star. There was a certain warmth to her, a simplicity that made her very valuable, I think.

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