William Wellman

William Wellman

Highest Rated: 100% Battleground (1949)

Lowest Rated: 25% The High and the Mighty (1954)

Birthday: Not Available

Birthplace: Not Available

A one-time juvenile petty criminal and hockey player, William Wellman went on to serve in the French Foreign Legion and later became a World War I air ace. Having lived a life that seemingly could only have come out of a movie, Wellman entered pictures after an accidental meeting with Douglas Fairbanks Sr., after accidentally landing his barnstorming plane on the latter's estate. Between 1920 and 1923, he rose from bit actor to studio gofer to director. After a stint in westerns, Wellman was chosen in 1927 to direct Wings, a major drama dealing with pilots during World War I that was highlighted by air combat and flight sequences that remain impressive over 60 years later. The movie earned the first Academy Award ever given for Best Picture, and Wellman's career was made. In the '30s, he proved adept at handling a variety of subjects, including the violent and controversial The Public Enemy, the original version of A Star Is Born, and the viciously satirical Nothing Sacred. Wellman's '40s work was similarly distinguished, and included The Ox-Bow Incident, The Story of G.I. Joe, and the Battle of the Bulge re-enactment Battleground, broken up by the occasional comedy such as Lady of Burlesque. Wellman's best work of the '50s was done in association with John Wayne, in Island in the Sky and The High and the Mighty, both about aviation. His final film was Lafayette Escadrille, about the unit in which Wellman had flown during World War I. Wellman's films, whether comedies or dramas, are usually vehicles for their male leads (or, in the case of Lady of Burlesque, the heroine) to successfully chew up the scenery as actors, and present themselves as bold--if occasionally fatally flawed--figures, often wrestling with personal demons that they don't fully understand themselves.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet Reaching For The Sun Director — 2012
No Score Yet Woman Trap Director — 2012
No Score Yet Chinatown Nights Director — 2012
No Score Yet Darby's Rangers Director — 1958
No Score Yet Lafayette Escadrille Producer Director — 1958
No Score Yet Goodbye, My Lady Director — 1956
No Score Yet Blood Alley Director — 1955
No Score Yet Ring of Fear Director — 1954
25% The High and the Mighty Director — 1954
No Score Yet Track of the Cat Director — 1954
No Score Yet Island in the Sky Director — 1953
No Score Yet My Man and I Director — 1952
No Score Yet It's a Big Country Director — 1951
No Score Yet Across the Wide Missouri Director — 1951
No Score Yet Westward the Women Director — 1951
No Score Yet The Next Voice You Hear Director — 1950
No Score Yet The Happy Years Director — 1950
100% Battleground Director — 1949
No Score Yet The Iron Curtain Director — 1948
No Score Yet Yellow Sky Director — 1948
50% Magic Town Director — 1947
No Score Yet Gallant Journey Director Screenwriter — 1946
71% The Story of G.I. Joe Director — 1945
No Score Yet Buffalo Bill Director — 1944
90% The Ox-Bow Incident Director — 1943
60% Lady of Burlesque Director — 1943
No Score Yet Thunder Birds Director — 1942
No Score Yet The Great Man's Lady Director Producer — 1942
82% Roxie Hart Director — 1942
No Score Yet The Light That Failed Producer Director — 1939
100% Beau Geste Producer Director — 1939
No Score Yet Men with Wings Producer Director — 1938
100% Nothing Sacred Director — 1937
100% A Star Is Born Director Screenwriter — 1937
No Score Yet Small Town Girl (One Horse Town) Director — 1936
No Score Yet Robin Hood Of El Dorado Director — 1936
No Score Yet Call of the Wild Director — 1935
No Score Yet Stingaree Director — 1934
No Score Yet The President Vanishes Director — 1934
No Score Yet College Coach (Football Coach ) Director — 1933
80% Female Director — 1933
88% Wild Boys of the Road (Dangerous Days) Director — 1933
75% Heroes for Sale Director — 1933
No Score Yet Central Airport Director — 1933
No Score Yet Frisco Jenny Director Reporter — 1933
No Score Yet Midnight Mary Director — 1933
No Score Yet The Conquerors Director — 1932
No Score Yet The Purchase Price Director — 1932
No Score Yet So Big Director — 1932
No Score Yet The Hatchet Man Director — 1932
No Score Yet Love Is A Racket Director — 1932
No Score Yet Star Witness Director Company Workman — 1931
86% Night Nurse Director — 1931
100% The Public Enemy Director — 1931
No Score Yet Other Men's Women Director — 1931
100% Safe in Hell Director — 1931
No Score Yet Maybe It's Love Director — 1930
No Score Yet Young Eagles Director — 1930
No Score Yet The Man I Love Director — 1929
No Score Yet Beggars of Life Director — 1928
93% Wings A Doughboy Director — 1927
No Score Yet The Boob Director — 1926
No Score Yet You Never Know Women Director — 1926

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