
William A. Wellman
Highest Rated: 100% The Public Enemy (1931)
Lowest Rated: 33% The High and the Mighty (1954)
Birthday: Feb 29, 1896
Birthplace: Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Having directed nearly 80 motion pictures throughout his career, William Wellman was an extraordinarily prolific director whose output contained a number of cinematic gems amidst a rather unexceptional canon. Wellman started his career during the silent era and had the prestige of directing the World War I actioner, "Wings" (1927), which was the first motion picture to ever win an Oscar for Best Picture. He spent the next 10 years directing a string of forgettable movies until reaching new heights with the scathing screwball comedy "Nothing Sacred" (1937) and the original version of "A Star Is Born" (1937), which earned him the only Academy Award of his career. Wellman went on to direct the dark and gritty Western "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943), the tone of which ran counter to America's thirst for escape from the war, therefore sealing its fate as a commercial failure, though it lived on as one of Wellman's masterpieces. From there, he helmed a number of great Westerns and war-themed movies like "The Story of G.I. Joe" (1945), "Yellow Sky" (1948) and "Battleground" (1949). Late in his career, Wellman teamed with John Wayne on the terror-in-the-skies thriller "The High and the Mighty" (1954), but rode off into the sunset on the back of several mediocre films until his retirement in 1958. Though his career was uneven, Wellman directed enough film classics to be considered one of the premier directors of Hollywood's Golden Age.
Photos
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 25% | Lafayette Escadrille |
Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
- | 1958 |
No Score Yet | 43% | Darby's Rangers | Director | - | 1958 |
No Score Yet | 90% | Goodbye, My Lady | Director | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet | 45% | Blood Alley |
Director, Producer |
- | 1955 |
33% | 59% | The High and the Mighty | Director | - | 1954 |
98% | 81% | A Star Is Born | Writer | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | 49% | Track of the Cat | Director | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | 40% | Ring of Fear | Director | - | 1954 |
80% | 62% | Island in the Sky | Director | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | 36% | My Man and I | Director | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet | 38% | Across the Wide Missouri | Director | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | 10% | It's a Big Country | Director | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Westward the Women | Director | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | 67% | The Next Voice You Hear | Director | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | 86% | The Happy Years | Director | - | 1950 |
75% | 82% | Battleground | Director | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Behind the Iron Curtain | Director | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet | 57% | The Iron Curtain | Director | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet | 80% | Yellow Sky | Director | - | 1948 |
50% | 32% | Magic Town |
Director, Producer |
- | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gallant Journey |
Director, Screenwriter, Producer |
- | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | This Man's Navy | Director | - | 1945 |
77% | 73% | G.I. Joe | Director | - | 1945 |
No Score Yet | 52% | Buffalo Bill | Director | - | 1944 |
60% | 51% | Lady of Burlesque | Director | - | 1943 |
91% | 91% | The Ox-Bow Incident | Director | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | 40% | Thunder Birds | Director | - | 1942 |
82% | 56% | Roxie Hart | Director | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | 47% | The Great Man's Lady |
Director, Producer |
- | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Reaching for the Sun | Director | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Light That Failed | Director | - | 1939 |
100% | 85% | Beau Geste |
Director, Producer |
- | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Men With Wings | Director | - | 1938 |
100% | 78% | A Star Is Born | Director | - | 1937 |
100% | 70% | Nothing Sacred | Director | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | 65% | Small Town Girl | Director | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Robin Hood of El Dorado | Director | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | One Horse Town | Director | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | 53% | Call of the Wild | Director | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | 40% | Stingaree | Director | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The President Vanishes | Director | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Central Airport | Director | - | 1933 |
88% | 73% | Wild Boys of the Road | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lilly Turner | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | 64% | Midnight Mary | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Looking for Trouble | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | College Coach | Director | - | 1933 |
75% | 66% | Heroes for Sale | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | 52% | Frisco Jenny | Director | - | 1933 |
83% | 53% | Female | Director | - | 1933 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Conquerors | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Love Is a Racket | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | 50% | The Purchase Price | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | 50% | So Big | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | 13% | The Hatchet Man | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Pioneer Builders | Director | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet | 62% | Star Witness | Director | - | 1931 |
75% | 73% | Night Nurse | Director | - | 1931 |
100% | 84% | The Public Enemy | Director | - | 1931 |
No Score Yet | 50% | Other Men's Women | Director | - | 1931 |
100% | 43% | Safe in Hell | Director | - | 1931 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Young Eagles | Director | - | 1930 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Eleven Men and a Girl | Director | - | 1930 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dangerous Paradise | Director | - | 1930 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chinatown Nights | Director | - | 1929 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Woman Trap | Director | - | 1929 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Man I Love | Director | - | 1929 |
90% | No Score Yet | The Legion of the Condemned |
Director, Producer |
- | 1928 |
83% | No Score Yet | Ladies of the Mob |
Director, Producer |
- | 1928 |
93% | 79% | Wings | Director | - | 1927 |
No Score Yet | 11% | The Boob | Director | - | 1926 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | You Never Know Women | Director | - | 1926 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Combat! | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1965 1963 |
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