LEO MCCAREY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Leo McCarey was one of the greatest comedy directors during the Classic Hollywood era, helming over one hundred features in his forty year directorial career. Even more, most of the pictures he created were immensely successful with both audiences and critics, helping his films earn three Oscars and thirty six nominations.
The director was born Thomas Leo McCarey on October 3, 1896 in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the University of Southern California law school, worked in a law firm in San Francisco, and then opened up his own practice in Los Angeles. When his practice failed, McCarey turned to vaudeville and songwriting, which also proved to be fruitless. However, one of his friends introduced him to Tod Browning, who subsequently gave him a job as his assistant director at Universal Pictures.
After working on films like “The Virgin of Stamboul” (1920) and “No Woman Knows” (1921), he was given the chance to direct his own film for the studio, “Society Secrets” (1921). It was unsuccessful, and McCarey began to get discouraged again. In 1923, his luck changed when he was hired at Hal Roach Studios. He worked his way up from being a gag writer to becoming vice president of production for the entire studio two years later.
After writing gags for “Our Gang” and other stars, McCarey directed a number of shorts, including many with Charley Chase. It was also while at Hal Roach Studios that the director first paired together Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, creating one of the most famous and well loved comedy duos of all time. He officially directed their two-reelers “We Faw Down” (1928), “Liberty” (1929), and “Wrong Again” (1929). By 1929 McCarey was comfortable enough with his abilities as a director that he left Hal Roach Studios and began to work freelance.
He struggled on his first few full feature films, “The Sophomore” (1929), “Red Hot Rhythm” (1929), and “Wild Company” (1930), but found success with the Paramount musical “Let’s Go Native” (1930). In the same year he released the popular comedy “Part Time Wife” (1930), whose success prompted Gloria Swanson to approve McCarey to direct her film “Indiscreet” (1931). He next directed Eddie Cantor in “The Kid from Spain” (1932). After, he signed on with Paramount Pictures.
His first assignment at the studio was the Marx Brothers comedy “Duck Soup” (1933), which is often considered his most popular effort. McCarey then directed comedians W.C. Fields in “Six of a Kind” (1934) and Mae West in “Belle of the Nineties” (1934). The very successful romantic comedy “Ruggles of Red Gap” (1935) starring Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles and Zasu Pitts, followed, with the Harold Lloyd vehicle “The Milky Way” (1936) trailing. His next feature, “Make Way for Tommorow” (1937), based off of Josephine Lawrence’s novel “The Years Are So Long”, turned into the director’s most personal. Director Orson Welles said of the film: “It would make a stone cry.” Although the picture about an aging couple was powerful and masterfully done, the picture failed to gain a following because of Paramount’s refusal to back it. Although it won favorable reviews, its failure at the box office caused the studio to fire McCarey.
He was quickly hired by Columbia to direct the third remake of “The Awful Truth” (1937).The Cary Grant, Irene Dunne screwball comedy was a huge success, earning McCarey an Oscar for Best Director. Writer/Director Peter Bogdanovich also attested to the merit of the film, saying “After the ‘Awful Truth’, when it came to light comedy, there was Cary Grant and then everyone else was an also-ran.” The director then signed a contract with RKO, making “Love Affair” (1939), which started as a comedy and turned into a melodrama.
In the 1940's McCarey’s films were more serious. He started with “Once Upon a Honeymoon” (1942) starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, a comedy drama hybrid that dealt with the Nazis in pre World War II Europe. In 1944 he directed Bing Crosby in the seven time Academy Award winning “Going My Way”, about a singing Catholic priest starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. He earned two Academy Awards for the film. The picture was also so lucrative that McCarey had the highest reported income in the U.S. the year of its release. Its sequel, “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945), shared a similar success; though it only took home one Oscar. “Good Sam” (1948), the director’s next film, revealed the tensions that exist between helping others and helping oneself. It also marked the beginning of McCarey’s decline.
After directing the documentary short “You Can Change the World” (1951), he made the darker anti-communist melodrama “My Son John” (1952). It was destroyed by critics and disappointed at the box office. However, the director’s following picture, “An Affair to Remember” (1957), brought him success once again. The Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr vehicle was a remake of his own “Love Affair”, and served as inspiration for the 1993 romantic comedy “Sleepless in Seattle” which starred tow time Academy Award winner for Best Actor Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He followed the hit with the comedy “Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!” (1958), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. His final feature was the failed “Satan Never Sleeps” (1962), another anti-communist effort.
On July 5, 1969, in Santa Monica, California, Leo McCarey passed away from emphysema. The director has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his involvement in the motion picture industry.
Filmography
1962 Satan Never Sleeps
1958 Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
1957 An Affair to Remember
1956 Lux Video Theatre
1955 Screen Directors Playhouse
1952 My Son John
1951 You Can Change the World
1948 Good Sam
1945 The Bells of St. Mary's
1944 Going My Way
1942 Once Upon a Honeymoon
1939 Love Affair
1938 The Cowboy and the Lady
1937 The Awful Truth
1937 Make Way for Tomorrow
1936 The Milky Way
1935 Ruggles of Red Gap
1934 Belle of the Nineties
1934 Six of a Kind
1933 Duck Soup
1932 The Kid from Spain
1931 Indiscreet
1930 Part Time Wife
1930 Let's Go Native
1930 Wild Company
1929 Red Hot Rhythm
1929 The Sophomore
1929 Dad's Day
1929 Madame Q
1929 The Unkissed Man
1929 Big Business
1929 Why Is a Plumber?
1929 When Money Comes
1929 Wrong Again
1929 Liberty
1929 Going Ga-ga
1929 Freed 'em and Weep
1928 We Faw Down
1928 Feed 'em and Weep
1928 Habeas Corpus
1928 Do Gentlemen Snore?
1928 That Night
1928 Should Married Men Go Home?
1928 Imagine My Embarrassment
1928 Should Women Drive?
1928 The Fight Pest
1928 Tell It to the Judge
1928 Blow by Blow
1928 Came the Dawn
1928 The Finishing Touch
1928 The Family Group
1928 Pass the Gravy
1927 Flaming Fathers
1927 Us
1927 The Way of All Pants
1927 Should Second Husbands Come First?
1927 What Every Iceman Knows
1927 Sugar Daddies
1927 Don't Tell Everything
1927 Eve's Love Letters
1927 Jewish Prudence
1927 Why Girls Say No
1927 Should Men Walk Home?
1926 Be Your Age
1926 Tell 'Em Nothing
1926 Bromo and Juliet
1926 Crazy Like a Fox
1926 Mighty Like a Moose
1926 Long Fliv the King
1926 Mum's the Word
1926 Dog Shy
1926 Mama Behave
1926 Charley My Boy
1925 Looking for Sally
1925 His Wooden Wedding
1925 Hold Everything
1925 The Uneasy Three
1925 The Caretaker's Daughter
1925 No Father to Guide Him
1925 Innocent Husbands
1925 Isn't Life Terrible?
1925 What Price Goofy?
1925 Big Red Riding Hood
1925 Bad Boy
1925 Is Marriage the Bunk?
1925 Hard Boiled
1925 Should Husbands Be Watched?
1925 Plain and Fancy Girls
1925 The Family Entrance
1925 Fighting Fluid
1925 Hello Baby!
1925 The Rat's Knuckles
1924 The Royal Razz
1924 The Poor Fish
1924 Short Kilts
1924 All Wet
1924 Accidental Accidents
1924 Bungalow Boobs
1924 Too Many Mammas
1924 Sittin' Pretty
1924 Outdoor Pajamas
1924 Why Men Work
1924 Sweet Daddy
1924 Seeing Nellie Home
1924 A Ten-Minute Egg
1924 Why Husbands Go Mad
1924 Jeffries Jr.
1924 Stolen Goods
1924 Young Oldfield
1924 Publicity Pays
1921 Society Secrets
1921 No Woman Knows
1920 Outside the Law
1920 The Virgin of Stamboul
