Don Siegel

Donald Siegel
Born	October 26, 1912(1912-10-26) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 20, 1991(1991-04-20) (aged 78) Nipomo, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film director and producer
Spouse	Viveca Lindfors (div.) Doe Avedon (div.) Carol Rydall
Children	Kristoffer Siegel-Tabori Nowell Siegel Anney Mary Margaret Siegel Katherine Dorothy Salvaderi Jack Siegel

Donald Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director and producer. His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.

Early life

Born in Chicago, with Jewish origins, he attended schools in New York and later graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge in England.^[1] For a short time he studied at Beaux Arts in Paris, France, but left at age 20 and later made his way to Los Angeles.^[1]

Career

Siegel found work in Warner Bros. film library after meeting producer Hal Wallis,^[1] and later rose to head of the Montage Department, where he directed thousands of montages, including the opening montage for Casablanca. In 1945 two shorts he directed, Hitler Lives? and A Star in the Night, won Academy Awards, which launched his career as a feature director.

He directed whatever material came his way, often transcending the limitations of budget and script to produce interesting and adept works. He directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone, "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" and "Uncle Simon". He worked with Elvis Presley and Dolores del Río in Flaming Star (1960), and with Steve McQueen in Hell Is for Heroes and Lee Marvin in the influential The Killers (1964) before a series of films with Clint Eastwood that were commercially successful in addition to being well received by critics. These included the policiers Coogan's Bluff and Dirty Harry, the Budd Boetticher-scripted Western Two Mules for Sister Sara, the cynical American Civil War melodrama The Beguiled and the prison-break picture Escape from Alcatraz. He was a considerable influence on Eastwood's own career as a director, and Eastwood's film Unforgiven is dedicated "for Don [Siegel] and Sergio [Leone]".

Cameos

He has a cameo role as a bartender in Eastwood's Play Misty For Me, and, as the director of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, appears as a "pod" taxi driver in Philip Kaufman's remake. In the film Charley Varrick (a film slated for Eastwood but ultimately turned down by the actor), starring Walter Matthau, he has a cameo as a ping-pong player.

Personal life

From 1948 to 1953, he was married to the actress Viveca Lindfors, with whom he had a son, Kristoffer Tabori. He married Doe Avedon (a former actress and wife of photographer Richard Avedon) in 1957. They adopted four children and later divorced. He married Carol Rydall, former assistant to Clint Eastwood, and they remained together until he died at the age of 78 from cancer in Nipomo, California.

Filmography

• Star in the Night (1945)
• The Verdict (1946)
• Night Unto Night (1947)
• The Big Steal (1949)
• The Duel at Silver Creek (1952)
• Count the Hours (1953)
• China Venture (1953)
• Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
• Private Hell 36 (1954)
• The Blue and Gold (1955)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• Crime in the Streets (1956)
• Baby Face Nelson (1957)
• Spanish Affair (1957)
• The Gun Runners (1958)
• The Lineup (1958)
• Hound-Dog Man (1959)
• Edge of Eternity (1959)
• Flaming Star (1960)
• Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
• The Killers (1964)
• The Hanged Man (1964)
• Stranger on the Run (1967)
• Coogan's Bluff (1968)
• Madigan (1968)
• Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
• The Beguiled (1971)
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• Charley Varrick (1973)
• The Black Windmill (1974)
• The Shootist (1976)
• Telefon (1977)
• Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
• Rough Cut (1980)
• Jinxed! (1981)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Munn, p. 75

Bibliography

• Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 086051790x. 

External links

• Don Siegel at the Internet Movie Database
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• An Academy Salute to Don Siegel, With Curtis Hanson and Clint Eastwood

Persondata
Name	Siegel, Donald
Alternative names
Short description	Film director and producer
Date of birth	1912-10-26
Place of birth	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Date of death	1991-4-20
Place of death	Nipoma, California, U.S.