Norman Foster Biography

Born Norman Hoeffer, Norman Foster became a stage actor in 1926 and by the end of the decade was acting in films. He switched to directing in 1936, and helmed six of the eight "Mr. Moto" mysteries starring Peter Lorre. In 1942 he completed (and signed) Orson Welles' stylish thriller Journey Into Fear. He was then made director of the "My Friend Bonito" segment of Welles' Pan-American anthology film It's All True until RKO aborted the project. From his genre work of the next twenty-five years, Foster is most fondly remembered for his westerns Rachel and the Stranger and Navajo, and the crime thriller Woman on the Run. He turned his attention to television in the '60s and in the mid '70s had his final acting role in Welles' as-yet-unreleased Hollywood satire, The Other Side of the Wind. ~ Rovi