William Beaudine

William Beaudine
Born	William Washington Beaudine January 15, 1892(1892-01-15) New York City, New York
Died	March 18, 1970(1970-03-18) (aged 78) Canoga Park, California
Spouse	Marguerite Fleischer (1914-1970)
Awards	Walk of Fame - Motion Picture 1775 Vine Street

William Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres.

Early life and career

Born in New York City, Beaudine began his career as an actor in 1909 with American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. He married Marguerite Fleischer in 1914, to whom he stayed married until his death.

In 1915 he was hired as an actor and director by the Kalem Company. He was an assistant to director D.W. Griffith on The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. By the time he was 23 Beaudine had directed his first picture, a short called Almost a King (1915). He would continue to direct shorts exclusively until 1922, when he shifted his efforts into making feature-length films.

Beaudine directed silent films for Goldwyn Pictures (before it became part of MGM), Metro Pictures (also before MGM), First National Pictures, Principal and Warner Brothers. In 1926 he made Sparrows, the story of orphans imprisoned in a swamp farm starring Mary Pickford. Beaudine had at least 30 pictures to his credit before the sound era began. Among his first sound films were short Mack Sennett comedies; he made at least one film for Sennett while contractually bound elsewhere, resulting in his adopting the pseudonym "William Crowley." He would occasionally use the pseudonym in later years, usually as "William X. Crowley."

He ground out several movies annually for Fox Films, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Universal Pictures. His most famous credit of the early 1930s is The Old-Fashioned Way, a comedy about old-time show folks starring W. C. Fields.

Beaudine was one of a number of experienced directors (including Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan) who were brought to England from Hollywood in the 1930s to work on what were in all other respects very British productions. Beaudine directed four films there starring Will Hay, including Boys Will Be Boys (1935) and Where There's a Will (1936).

Beaudine returned to America in 1937 and evidently had trouble re-establishing himself at the major studios. After a brief stint at Warner Brothers, he found work on Poverty Row, working for studios specializing in low-budget films, such as Monogram Pictures and Producers Releasing Corporation. For these studios he made dozens of comedies, thrillers and melodramas with such popular personalities as Bela Lugosi, Harry Langdon, Ralph Byrd, Edmund Lowe, Jean Parker and The East Side Kids. By this time Beaudine had a reputation for being a resourceful, no-nonsense director who could make feature films in a matter of days, sometimes as few as five. One of the ways he did this was to shoot only one take of a scene if at all possible, regardless of any minor flaws or mishaps such as actors forgetting lines, props not working, camera or sound equipment malfunctions, etc., resulting in his being given the nickname "One-Shot Beaudine". One of these quickies was Mom and Dad, an exploitation film produced by Kroger Babb that was released in 1945.

Beaudine was often entrusted with series films, including the Torchy Blane, The East Side Kids, Jiggs and Maggie, The Shadow, Charlie Chan and The Bowery Boys series. His efficiency was so well-known that Walt Disney hired him to direct some of his television projects of the 1950s and had him direct a feature western, Ten Who Dared (1960). Beaudine became even busier in TV, directing Naked City, The Green Hornet, and dozens of Lassie episodes.

His last two feature films, both released in 1966, were the horror-westerns Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (with John Carradine) and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. By the end of the decade he was the industry's oldest working professional, having started in 1909.

Death

Beaudine died of uremic poisoning in 1970 in California and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.

Selected filmography

The following is a listing of the theatrically released, feature-length films directed by William Beaudine. Short subjects and television productions are not included.

1920s

1. Watch Your Step (1922)
2. Catch My Smoke (1922)
3. Heroes of the Street (1922)
4. Her Fatal Millions (1923)
5. Penrod and Sam (1923)
6. The Printer's Devil (1923)
7. The Country Kid (1923)
8. Boy of Mine (1923)
9. Daring Youth (1924)
10. Wandering Husbands (1924) aka Love and Lies
11. Daughters of Pleasure (1924) aka Beggars on Horseback
12. A Self-Made Failure (1924) aka The Goof
13. Cornered (1924)
14. Lovers' Lane (1924) unconfirmed
15. The Narrow Street (1925)
16. A Broadway Butterfly (1925)
17. How Baxter Butted In (1925)
18. Little Annie Rooney (1925)
19. That's My Baby (1926)
20. Sparrows (1926)
21. The Social Highwayman (1926)
22. The Canadian (1926)
23. Frisco Sally Levy (1927)
24. The Life of Riley (1927)
25. The Irresistible Lover (1927)
26. The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (1928)
27. Heart to Heart (1928)
28. Home, James (1928)
29. Do Your Duty (1928)
30. Give and Take (1928)
31. Fugitives (1929)
32. Two Weeks Off (1929)
33. Hard to Get (1929) aka Classified
34. The Girl from Woolworth's (1929)
35. Wedding Rings (1929) aka The Dark Swan

1930s

1. Those Who Dance (1930)
2. Road to Paradise (1930)
3. Father's Son (1931)
4. Misbehaving Ladies (1931)
5. The Lady Who Dared (1931)
6. The Mad Parade (1931) aka Forgotten Women
7. Penrod and Sam (1931)
8. Men in Her Life (1931)
9. Three Wise Girls (1932)
10. Make Me a Star (1932)
11. The Crime of the Century (1933)
12. Her Bodyguard (1933)
13. The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
14. Two Hearts in Harmony (1935)
15. So You Won't Talk (1935)
16. Dandy Dick (1935)
17. Boys Will Be Boys (1935)
18. Get Off My Foot (1935)
19. Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935)
20. Where There's a Will (1936)
21. Educated Evans (1936)
22. It's in the Bag (1936)
23. Windbag the Sailor (1936)
24. Feather Your Nest (1937)
25. Said O'Reilly to McNab (1937)
26. Take It from Me (1937)
27. Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
28. Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)

1940s

1. She Done Him Right (1940)
2. Four Shall Die (1940) aka Condemned Men
3. Misbehaving Husbands (1940)
4. Up Jumped the Devil (1941)
5. Emergency Landing (1941)
6. Federal Fugitives (1941) aka International Spy
7. Desperate Cargo (1941)
8. Mr. Celebrity (1941)
9. The Miracle Kid (1941)
10. Blonde Comet (1941)
11. Duke of the Navy (1942)
12. Broadway Big Shot (1942)
13. Lucky Ghost (1942) aka Lady Luck
14. Professor Creeps (1942)
15. The Panther's Claw (1942)
16. Men of San Quentin (1942)
17. Gallant Lady (1942) aka Prison Girl
18. One Thrilling Night (1942)
19. Phantom Killer (1942)
20. Foreign Agent (1942)
21. The Living Ghost (1942)
22. The Ape Man (1943)
23. Clancy Street Boys (1943)
24. Spotlight Scandals (1943) aka Spotlight Revue (reissue title)
25. Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
26. Here Comes Kelly (1943)
27. Mr. Muggs Steps Out (1943)
28. Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943)
29. What a Man! (1944)
30. Voodoo Man (1944)
31. Hot Rhythm (1944)
32. Detective Kitty O'Day (1944)
33. Follow the Leader (1944)
34. Leave It to the Irish (1944)
35. Oh, What a Night (1944)
36. Shadow of Suspicion (1944)
37. Bowery Champs (1944)
38. Crazy Knights (1944) aka Murder in the Family (TV title)
39. Mom and Dad (1945)
40. Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945)
41. Fashion Model (1945)
42. Blonde Ransom (1945)
43. Swingin' on a Rainbow (1945)
44. Come Out Fighting (1945)
45. Black Market Babies (1945)
46. Girl on the Spot (1946)
47. The Face of Marble (1946)
48. One Exciting Week (1946)
49. Don't Gamble with Strangers (1946)
50. Below the Deadline (1946) aka Jumping Joe (TV title)
51. Spook Busters (1946)
52. Mr. Hex (1946)
53. Philo Vance Returns (1947) aka Infamous Crimes (TV title)
54. Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947)
55. Too Many Winners (1947)
56. Killer at Large (1947) aka Gangway for Murder and Syndicated Murder
57. Gas House Kids Go West (1947)
58. News Hounds (1947)
59. Bowery Buckaroos (1947)
60. The Chinese Ring (1947)
61. Angels' Alley (1947)
62. Jinx Money (1948)
63. The Shanghai Chest (1948)
64. The Golden Eye (1948)
65. Smugglers' Cove (1948)
66. Incident (1948)
67. Kidnapped (1948)
68. Jiggs and Maggie in Court (1948)
69. The Feathered Serpent (1948)
70. The Lawton Story (1949)
71. Tuna Clipper (1949)
72. Forgotten Women (1949)
73. Trail of the Yukon (1949) as William X. Crowley
74. Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters (1949)
75. Tough Assignment (1949)

1950s

1. Blue Grass of Kentucky (1950)
2. Blonde Dynamite (1950)
3. Jiggs and Maggie Out West (1950)
4. Lucky Losers (1950)
5. County Fair (1950)
6. A Wonderful Life (1950)
7. Second Chance (1950)
8. Blues Busters (1950)
9. Again... Pioneers (1950)
10. Bowery Battalion (1951)
11. Cuban Fireball (1951)
12. Ghost Chasers (1951)
13. Let's Go Navy! (1951)
14. Havana Rose (1951)
15. Crazy Over Horses (1951)
16. The Congregation (1951)
17. Rodeo (1952)
18. Hold That Line (1952)
19. Jet Job (1952)
20. Here Come the Marines (1952)
21. The Rose Bowl Story (1952)
22. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
23. Feudin' Fools (1952)
24. No Holds Barred (1952)
25. Jalopy (1953)
26. Born to the Saddle (1953)
27. Roar of the Crowd (1953)
28. Murder Without Tears (1953)
29. Yukon Vengeance (1954)
30. Paris Playboys (1954)
31. Pride of the Blue Grass (1954)
32. High Society (1955)
33. Jail Busters (1955)
34. Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956)
35. Up in Smoke (1957)
36. In the Money (1958)

1960s

1. Ten Who Dared (1960)
2. Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966)
3. Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

External links

• William Beaudine at the Internet Movie Database
• One-Shot Beaudine
• William Beaudine at Find a Grave