Don Siegel
Encyclopedia
Donald Siegel 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.
, with Jewish origins, he attended schools in New York and later graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge
in England. 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.
film library after meeting producer Hal Wallis, 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
]".
, 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.
, 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 Nowell, Anney, Katherine and Jack 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.
Early life
Born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, with Jewish origins, he attended schools in New York and later graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
in England. 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.
Career
Siegel found work in Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film library after meeting producer Hal Wallis, and later rose to head of the Montage Department, where he directed thousands of montages, including the opening montage for Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
. 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 Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross
The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross
"The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Salvadore Ross is a brash, insensitive, ambitious young man who craves a lovely young social worker named Leah Maitland. Leah is attracted to Ross, but could never marry a...
" and "Uncle Simon
Uncle Simon
"Uncle Simon" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Barbara Polk has lived with her aged, sadistic uncle, Simon Polk, for 25 years — even though she hates him — as she is his only heir. After berating Barbara in the basement, Simon raises his cane to...
". He worked with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
in Flaming Star
Flaming Star
Flaming Star is a 1960 western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was directed by Don Siegel, and had a working title of...
(1960), and with Steve McQueen in Hell Is for Heroes
Hell Is for Heroes (film)
Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of American soldiers, who in the fall of 1944 must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.-Plot:Squad...
and Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
in the influential The Killers
The Killers (1964 film)
The Killers, sometimes marketed as Ernest Hemingway's The Killers, is a 1964 crime film released by Universal Studios. It is the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story of the same name, following a version made in 1946 starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. It was directed...
(1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
) before a series of films with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
that were commercially successful in addition to being well received by critics. These included the policiers Coogan's Bluff
Coogan's Bluff (film)
Coogan's Bluff is a 1968 American Universal film directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Don Stroud, and Susan Clark...
and Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
, the Budd Boetticher
Budd Boetticher
Oscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr. was a film director during the classical period in Hollywood most famous for the series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.Known for their sparse style, dramatic rocky locations near Lone Pine, California, and recurring stories of...
-scripted Western Two Mules for Sister Sara
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Two Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal...
, the cynical American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
melodrama The Beguiled
The Beguiled
The Beguiled is a 1971 drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil...
and the prison-break picture Escape from Alcatraz
Escape from Alcatraz (film)
Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American thriller film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood. It dramatizes possibly the only successful escape attempt from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. The film co-stars Fred Ward, and also features Patrick McGoohan as the...
. He was a considerable influence on Eastwood's own career as a director, and Eastwood's film Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
is dedicated "for Don [Siegel] and Sergio [Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
]".
Cameos
He has a cameo role as a bartender in Eastwood's Play Misty For MePlay Misty for Me
Play Misty for Me is a 1971 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, in his directorial debut. Jessica Walter and Donna Mills co-star. The original music score was composed by Dee Barton.-Plot:...
, and, as the director of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 US-American science fiction film directed by Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers...
, appears as a "pod" taxi driver in Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s...
's remake
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. It is a remake of the 1956 film of the same name. It was directed by Philip Kaufman and starred Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Leonard Nimoy.A San Francisco health inspector and...
. In the film Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...
(a film slated for Eastwood but ultimately turned down by the actor), starring Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
, he has a cameo as a ping-pong player.
Personal life
From 1948 to 1953, he was married to the actress Viveca LindforsViveca Lindfors
Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
, with whom he had a son, Kristoffer Tabori
Kristoffer Tabori
Kristoffer Tabori is an American actor and television director.-Early life:Tabori was born in Malibu, California, the son of director Don Siegel and Swedish-American actress Viveca Lindfors. He appeared in one of his mother's films, Weddings and Babies, as a young boy...
. He married Doe Avedon (a former actress and wife of photographer Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."-Photography career:Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian...
) in 1957. They adopted four children Nowell, Anney, Katherine and Jack and later divorced. He married Carol Rydall, former assistant to Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, and they remained together until he died at the age of 78 from cancer in Nipomo, California.
Filmography
- Star in the NightStar in the NightStar in the Night is a 1945 short drama film directed by Don Siegel. It was Siegel's debut film. The film won an Academy Award in 1946 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* J...
(1945) - The VerdictThe Verdict (1946 film)The Verdict is a 1946 film-noir drama directed by Don Siegel and written by Israel Zangwill and Peter Milne, based on Zangwill's novel The Big Bow Mystery. The film stars Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in one of their nine film pairings, as well as Joan Lorring and George Coulouris. Ian Wolfe...
(1946) - Night Unto NightNight Unto NightNight Unto Night is a 1949 drama film directed by Don Siegel, based on the 1944 novel by Philip Wylie.-Cast:* Ronald Reagan - John Galen* Viveca Lindfors - Ann Gracy* Broderick Crawford - C.L. Shawn* Rosemary DeCamp - Thalia Shawn* Osa Massen - Lisa...
(1947) - The Big StealThe Big StealThe Big Steal is a 1949 black-and-white film noir/comedy reteaming Out of the Past stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. The film was directed by Don Siegel, based on the short story "The Road to Carmichael's" by Richard Wormser.-Plot:...
(1949) - The Duel at Silver CreekThe Duel at Silver CreekThe Duel at Silver Creek is a 1952 Western film directed by Don Siegel and starring Audie Murphy...
(1952) - Count the HoursCount the Hours-Cast:*Macdonald Carey as Doug Madison* Teresa Wright as Ellen Braden*John Craven as George Braden*Jack Elam as Max Vern*Edgar Barrier as D.A Jim Gillespie...
(1953) - China Venture (1953)
- Riot in Cell Block 11Riot in Cell Block 11Riot in Cell Block 11 is a 1954 drama film starring Neville Brand and Leo Gordon. It was directed by Don Siegel, based on the screenplay by Richard Collins.-Plot:...
(1954) - Private Hell 36Private Hell 36Private Hell 36 is a black-and-white film noir, directed by Don Siegel. It features Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Howard Duff, among others....
(1954) - The Blue and GoldThe Blue and GoldThe Blue and Gold is a 1955 American drama film directed by Don Siegel and starring John Derek, Diana Lynn and Kevin McCarthy. Two brothers at the Annapolis US Naval Academy fall in love with the same girl, with the Korean War looming on the horizon....
(1955) - Invasion of the Body SnatchersInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 US-American science fiction film directed by Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers...
(1956) - Crime in the StreetsCrime in the StreetsCrime in the Streets is a 1956 film about juvenile delinquency, directed by Don Siegel and based on a television play written by Reginald Rose. The play first appeared on the Elgin Hour and was directed by Sidney Lumet. The film featured actor Sal Mineo who had previously appeared in Rebel Without...
(1956) - Baby Face NelsonBaby Face Nelson (film)Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 film directed by Don Siegel, starring Mickey Rooney as Baby Face Nelson, and featuring Leo Gordon as John Dillinger.-Cast:Mickey Rooney ... Lester M. 'Baby Face Nelson' Gillis Carolyn Jones ... Sue...
(1957) - Spanish AffairSpanish AffairSpanish Affair is a 1957 American-Spanish co-produced drama film directed by Don Siegel and Luis Marquina. It featured Carmen Sevilla, Richard Kiley and José Guardiola....
(1957) - The Gun RunnersThe Gun RunnersThe Gun Runners, a 1958 film directed by Don Siegel, is the third adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not, starring Audie Murphy and Patricia Owens. Everett Sloane essays the part of the alcoholic sidekick originally played by Walter Brennan in the film's first adaptation,...
(1958) - The LineupThe Lineup (film)The Lineup is a 1958 American film version of the police procedural series that ran on CBS radio from 1950 through 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 through 1960, directed by Don Siegel...
(1958) - Hound-Dog ManHound-Dog ManHound-Dog Man is a 1959 film directed by Don Siegel. The film is based on the book by Fred Gipson.-Cast:* Fabian as Clint* Stuart Whitman as Blackie Scantling* Carol Lynley as Dony Wallace* Arthur O'Connell as Aaron McKinney...
(1959) - Edge of EternityEdge of EternityEdge of Eternity is a 1959 CinemaScope film directed by Don Siegel shot on location in the Grand Canyon.-Plot:The film begins with an attempted assassination of a man looking into the Grand Canyon with his binoculars. The assassin disables the emergency brake from the man's car and attempts to run...
(1959) - Flaming StarFlaming StarFlaming Star is a 1960 western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was directed by Don Siegel, and had a working title of...
(1960) - Hell Is for HeroesHell Is for Heroes (film)Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of American soldiers, who in the fall of 1944 must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.-Plot:Squad...
(1962) - The KillersThe Killers (1964 film)The Killers, sometimes marketed as Ernest Hemingway's The Killers, is a 1964 crime film released by Universal Studios. It is the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story of the same name, following a version made in 1946 starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. It was directed...
(1964) - The Hanged ManThe Hanged Man (1964 film)The Hanged Man is a TV film directed by Don Siegel, in which a gunman seeks to avenge the death of his friend, whom he believes was murdered. It is considered the second television film in broadcast history. It debuted on NBC on November 18, 1964....
(1964) - Stranger on the Run (1967)
- Coogan's BluffCoogan's Bluff (film)Coogan's Bluff is a 1968 American Universal film directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Don Stroud, and Susan Clark...
(1968) - MadiganMadiganMadigan is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Don Siegel and starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda.The screenplay, originally titled Friday, Saturday, Sunday, was adapted by two writers who had been blacklisted in the 1950s, Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodman , based on a novel titled The...
(1968) - Two Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal...
(1970) - The BeguiledThe BeguiledThe Beguiled is a 1971 drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil...
(1971) - Dirty HarryDirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
(1971) - Charley VarrickCharley VarrickCharley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...
(1973) - The Black WindmillThe Black WindmillThe Black Windmill is a 1974 British spy thriller directed by Don Siegel and starring Michael Caine, John Vernon, Janet Suzman and Donald Pleasence The screenplay by Leigh Vance is based on Clive Egleton's novel Seven Days to a Killing. The story involves a British secret service agent, John...
(1974) - The ShootistThe ShootistThe Shootist is a 1976 Western starring John Wayne in his final film role. It was based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. Scott Hale and Miles Hood Swarthout wrote the screenplay...
(1976) - Telefon (1977)
- Escape from AlcatrazEscape from Alcatraz (film)Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American thriller film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood. It dramatizes possibly the only successful escape attempt from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. The film co-stars Fred Ward, and also features Patrick McGoohan as the...
(1979) - Rough Cut (1980)
- Jinxed!Jinxed!Jinxed! is a 1982 comedy-drama film starring Bette Midler, Rip Torn and Ken Wahl. Directed by Don Siegel, the veteran filmmaker would suffer a heart attack during the troubled production...
(1981)