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Richard Thorpe

Known for: Directing

Biography: 1896-02-24

Deathday: 1991-05-01 (95 years old)

Biography

Richard Thorpe (February 24, 1896 - May 1, 1991) was an American film director. Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred and eighty films. The first full length motion picture he directed for MGM was Last of the Pagans (1935) starring Ray Mala. After directing The Last Challenge in 1967, he retired from the film industry. He died in Palm Springs, California in 1991.

Thorpe is also known as the original director of The Wizard of Oz. He was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. Thorpe notoriously gave Judy Garland a blonde wig and cutesy "baby-doll" makeup that made her look like a girl in her late teens rather than an innocent Kansas farm girl of about thirteen. Both makeup and wig were discarded at the suggestion of George Cukor, who was brought in temporarily. Stills from Thorpe's work on the film survive today.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filmography

all 146

Movies 146

Director 143

Director

Richard Thorpe

Biography

Filmography

all 146

Movies 146

Director 143

The Last Challenge (1967)

The Scorpio Letters (1967)

That Funny Feeling (1965)

The Truth About Spring (1965)

The Golden Head (1964)

Fun in Acapulco (1963)

Follow the Boys (1963)

How the West Was Won (1962)

The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)

The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

The Tartars (1961)

The House of the Seven Hawks (1959)

Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959)

Jailhouse Rock (1957)

Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957)

Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)

Quentin Durward (1955)

The Prodigal (1955)

Bedevilled (1955)

Athena (1954)

The Student Prince (1954)

Knights of the Round Table (1953)

All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)

The Girl Who Had Everything (1953)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)

Ivanhoe (1952)

Carbine Williams (1952)

It's a Big Country (1951)

The Unknown Man (1951)

The Great Caruso (1951)

Vengeance Valley (1951)

Three Little Words (1950)

Black Hand (1950)

Malaya (1949)

Challenge to Lassie (1949)

The Sun Comes Up (1949)

Big Jack (1949)

A Date with Judy (1948)

On an Island with You (1948)

This Time for Keeps (1947)

Fiesta (1947)

What Next, Corporal Hargrove? (1945)

Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)

Thrill of a Romance (1945)

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)

Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)

Cry 'Havoc' (1943)

Above Suspicion (1943)

Three Hearts for Julia (1943)

White Cargo (1942)

Apache Trail (1942)

Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)

Joe Smith, American (1942)

Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)

Barnacle Bill (1941)

The Bad Man (1941)

Wyoming (1940)

20 Mule Team (1940)

The Earl of Chicago (1940)

Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)

Three Loves Has Nancy (1938)

The Crowd Roars (1938)

The Toy Wife (1938)

The First Hundred Years (1938)

Love Is a Headache (1938)

Man-Proof (1938)

Double Wedding (1937)

Lest We Forget (1937)

Night Must Fall (1937)

Dangerous Number (1937)

Tarzan Escapes (1936)

The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936)

Last of the Pagans (1935)