A. Edward Sutherland(1895-1973)
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
British-born A. Edward ("Eddie") Sutherland started in vaudeville and
acted in films from 1914 at Keystone (he was one of the original
Keystone Kops). He became a director in
1925, first with Paramount (1925-31), then at United Artists (1931-32),
again with Paramount (1933, 1935-37), then Universal (1940-41) and RKO
(1942). He hit his stride in the 1930s and 1940s with a string of
well-received comedies starring
Laurel & Hardy and
W.C. Fields, but his
Abie's Irish Rose (1946), an
adaptation of the often-filmed stage play, which he also produced, was
such a critical and financial disaster that he could not find work as a
director in Hollywood again. In the 1950s he went to Britain and ended
his career directing episodic television.
