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1-8 of 8
- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Haskell was born on 4 June 1948 in Stockton, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Godspell (1973), K-9 (1989) and Body Double (1984). He was married to Jeanne Lange. He died on 30 August 2000 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Editorial Department
- Editor
The term "style over content" fits director Joseph H. Lewis like a glove. His ability to elevate basically mundane and mediocre low-budget material to sublime cinematic art has gained him a substantial cult following among movie buffs. The Bonnie & Clyde look-alike Gun Crazy (1950), shot in 30 days on a budget of $400,000, is often cited as his best film. This taut gangster flick about two gun-crazy sociopaths on a crime spree is impregnated with an electric atmosphere, zipping along at a breakneck pace. It has been likened to a "tone poem of camera movement" and described by Martin Scorsese as "unrelenting and involving". A master of expressive lighting, tight close-ups, tracking and crane shots and offbeat camera angles and perspectives, Lewis possessed an instinctive sense of visual style, which imbued even the most improbable of his B-grade westerns and crime melodramas. Significant peripheral detail was his stock-in-trade. He acquired these skills working as a camera assistant in the 1920's (his aptitude for the work may have been come from his optometrist father) and further honed them in the MGM editorial department in the early '30s. After that Lewis edited serials at Republic and served the remainder of his apprenticeship as second unit director. He was signed to a full directing contract by Universal in 1937.
During the next two decades, Lewis spent time at Columbia (1939-40, 1946-49), Universal again (1942), PRC (1944), MGM (1950, 1952-53) and United Artists (1957-58), reliably turning out a couple of pictures per year. While he helmed more than his fair share of horse operas, it was invariably his films noir which attracted the most attention. Pick of the bunch were two slick second features during his spell at Columbia, My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), about a diabolical murder plot involving Nina Foch in her first starring role; and So Dark the Night (1946), an offbeat psychological thriller with character actor Steven Geray well cast as a French detective who unwittingly investigates his own crimes. Another candidate for inclusion on any Lewis "best" list would have to be The Big Combo (1955), made for Allied Artists and boasting impressive camera work by John Alton. It marked the beginning of a new cycle of films in which violence became rather more accentuated (the film ran into censorship trouble for that reason) and where the villain (in this case, philosophizing racketeer Richard Conte) was rather more interesting and dynamic than the maniacally obsessive but dullish nominal hero (cop Cornel Wilde).
After suffering a heart attack in 1953, Lewis began to reduce his workload. His cinematic curtain call was the low-budget western Terror in a Texas Town (1958), characterized by deliberate and fluid camera movement and some neat touches, like the hero (Sterling Hayden) sporting a harpoon for the climactic final showdown. The idea of successfully uniting the townsfolk against the tyranny of arbitrary rule was also intended as a veiled attack on McCarthyism. With the credits shot through the spokes of a wagon wheel, "Terror" was a fitting finale to Lewis's career.
He spent a few more years directing episodic TV westerns (including several of the better episodes of The Rifleman (1958)) and finally retired in 1966. When not addressing aspiring directors on the lecture circuit, he spent his remaining decades in leisure pursuits, in particular sailing and deep-sea fishing aboard his much-loved 50-foot trawler "Buena Vista".- Gürdal Tosun was born on 14 March 1967 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Gün Dogmadan (1986), Otogargara (1995) and Sen Hiç Atesböcegi Gördün Mü? (1999). He died on 30 August 2000 in Izmir, Turkey.
- Additional Crew
- Script and Continuity Department
- Location Management
Bo Lundqvist was born on 8 December 1946 in Robertsfors, Sweden. Bo is known for The Bridge (2011), Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) and Emil och griseknoen (1973). Bo died on 30 August 2000 in Sundbyberg, Sweden.- Aurora Edwards was born on 4 December 1903 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Veiled Aristocrats (1932). She was married to James Edward Walke and Ackland G. Lee. She died on 30 August 2000 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.
- Adolf Furler was born on 21 March 1933 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Express (1968), ...18 - 20 nur nicht passen (1965) and Sportschau (1961). He died on 30 August 2000 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
- Writer
- Actor
Clarence Weff was born on 2 June 1919 in Rome, Italy. He was a writer and actor, known for Destination Fury (1961), Dandelions by the Roots (1964) and How Not to Rob a Department Store (1965). He died on 30 August 2000 in France.- Olive Olson was born in 1917 in South Dakota, USA. She was an actress, known for Dance Charlie Dance (1937) and Social Register (1934). She died on 30 August 2000 in Cedarville, Illinois, USA.