Fred F. Sears
Encyclopedia
Frederick Francis Sears (July 7, 1913 – 1957) was an American film actor and director. Though a marginalized figure in 1950s cinema, he created 52 feature films in a number of genres for Columbia Pictures
from 1949 to 1957, before his death at the age of 44.
on July 7, 1913, Sears attended Boston College High School
, then Boston College
until the stock market crash of 1929 forced him to withdraw after a single semester.
, until it collapsed. Sears went back to Boston as an apprentice with the Copley Stock Company, eventually becoming the company juvenile. In the late 1930s, Sears served as the stage manager of John Barrymore
's touring company for one of the actor’s last productions, My Dear Children.
) on February 17, 1942. He married, but his workload pushed Sears to the brink of exhaustion, and on October 15, 1942, he attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. After recovering, on June 29, 1943, Sears abruptly announced that he was leaving the Little Theater to become a Volunteer Officer Candidate in the U.S. Army.
to pursue a career in Hollywood and eventually appeared in The Jolson Story
as a film editor, as well as performing bit parts in Blondie Knows Best, Douglas Sirk
’s Shockproof
, and a handful of program westerns. In all, from 1947 to 1952, Sears would appear as an actor in 58 films that he did not direct, playing a variety of supporting roles, in addition to his work as a director. He was contracted to Columbia Pictures
as a director along with several other "potentials" who began as dialogue directors: Henry Levin
, William Castle
, Mel Ferrer
and Robert Gordon.
In Ray Nazarro
’s 1947 western The Lone Hand Texan, Sears played the role of Sam Jason, an oil prospector whose claim is being challenged by the usual band of unscrupulous miscreants. Charles Starrett
, as The Durango Kid, comes to Sam’s rescue. Knowing how to communicate with other actors, Sears struck up a friendship with Starrett. In Nazarro’s West of Dodge City (1947), Sears had a chance to play a slightly larger role in the proceedings, sharing several scenes with Starrett, and further cementing their off-screen relationship. In Nazarro’s Law of the Canyon (1947), Sears had an even more conspicuous role, as the villainous Dr. Middleton, who plunges to his well-deserved death in the film’s final moments. After a series of bit parts, Sears got his first major break as a film director on the Durango Kid western Desert Vigilante (1949). By 1950, Sears had assumed directorial control of the series, directing such entries as Lightning Guns (1950), Prairie Roundup (1951), and Ridin’ the Outlaw Trail (1951).
Sam Katzman
and Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn
. In 1952 Katzman teamed Sears with veteran serial director Spencer Gordon Bennet
for Blackhawk
. With a running time of 242 minutes, or slightly more than four hours, and a production schedule of 28 days, Blackhawk was the acid test for Sears’ directorial skills. The 15-chapter serial went off without a hitch, and Katzman made Sears an offer. Sears would spend the rest of his brief career working for Katzman’s Clover Productions or Wallace MacDonald
, another “B” Columbia producer, who was slightly less penurious than Katzman.
Decisively breaking from the Western genre by design, Sears campaigned for a less transparently generic assignment, and was rewarded with Last Train From Bombay (1952), a straightforward thriller set in India
, starring Jon Hall
, then at the peak of his small-screen fame as the title character in Ramar of the Jungle
. Last Train from Bombay was so successful as a second-feature that Wallace MacDonald
rushed Sears into production of Target Hong Kong (1953), another Oriental thriller, again with an espionage
-centered narrative, but with the much more capable Richard Denning
in the lead. Sears’ next film, however, marked a genuine step up for the director. Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953), although a western, was shot in Technicolor
and featured Sears’ first top-flight cast: veterans John Hodiak
and David Brian
, as well as a very young John Derek
, then under contract to Columbia as an actor.
films, at least one horror film
, the first full-length rock and roll musical and the first Latino
musical
, all on six-day schedules.
The Miami Story (1954) is a big-city crime thriller that deals with corrupt politicians. Sears and his crew shot much of the film on location, with Barry Sullivan
in the lead role of Mick Flagg, a reformed gangster determined to clean up the corrupt metropolis. Sears then began production on what is arguably one of the most intriguing films of his brief career: Cell 2455 Death Row (1955), based on the autobiography of Caryl Chessman
, the notorious “Red Light Bandit” of the early 1950s, who successfully acted as his own attorney in staving off a series of execution attempts by the State of California at San Quentin prison, only to finally die in the gas chamber
on May 2, 1960.
In his last years Sears created some of his most interesting projects, such as 1955’s Teen-Age Crime Wave in which a group of marauding teenagers terrorize a rural family in the aftermath of a robbery; The Werewolf
(1956), one of the best of the late Columbia horror films, with a surprisingly sympathetic performance from Steven Ritch, who is unwittingly transformed into a lycanthrope by a group of unscrupulous scientists; Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956), a truly bizarre western in which corrupt undertaker Peter Boggs (played by the ever-unctuous Percy Helton
) conspires with a gang of desperados to rob the bank of a frontier town in the midst of a blinding sandstorm; and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
(1956), which remains Sears’ best-known film, immeasurably enhanced by Ray Harryhausen
’s then-state-of-the-art stop motion
special effects. It's also one of the few Sears films available on DVD
.
He also directed the pop
classic Rock Around the Clock
(1956), featuring Bill Haley & His Comets
, The Platters
, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
and the Godfather of all rock-and-roll DJs, Alan Freed
; Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956), the first Latino/a musical, featuring Perez Prado
, Luis Arcaraz and Manny Lopez with their respective orchestras, performing a non-stop medley of authentic pop hits, presenting the Latino/a public for the first time with positive images of their music and culture in a mainstream Hollywood film; Calypso Heat Wave (1957), which showcased Caribbean music
and offered a young Maya Angelou
her first screen role; and Escape From San Quentin (1957), a neatly constructed suspense thriller involving a prison escape using a stolen plane to fly over the walls of the infamous penitentiary.
, Sears suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage of a communicating artery of the Circle of Willis
. Sears left eight feaure films completed at his death, which were posthumously released.
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
from 1949 to 1957, before his death at the age of 44.
Childhood
Born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on July 7, 1913, Sears attended Boston College High School
Boston College High School
Founded in 1863, Boston College High School is an all-male Jesuit Roman Catholic college preparatory secondary school with historical ties to Boston College. It has an enrollment in grades 7-12 of approximately 1,500 students and is located on a campus on Morrissey Boulevard in the Dorchester...
, then Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
until the stock market crash of 1929 forced him to withdraw after a single semester.
Early work as theater director
He toured the RKO circuit for two or three years as a dancer in vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, until it collapsed. Sears went back to Boston as an apprentice with the Copley Stock Company, eventually becoming the company juvenile. In the late 1930s, Sears served as the stage manager of John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
's touring company for one of the actor’s last productions, My Dear Children.
Move to Memphis
Moving to Memphis in August 1941, Sears became the resident director of the Little Theater and joined the faculty of the Southwestern University (now Rhodes CollegeRhodes College
Rhodes College is a private, predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Originally founded by freemasons in 1848, Rhodes became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1855. Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students pursuing bachelor's and master's...
) on February 17, 1942. He married, but his workload pushed Sears to the brink of exhaustion, and on October 15, 1942, he attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. After recovering, on June 29, 1943, Sears abruptly announced that he was leaving the Little Theater to become a Volunteer Officer Candidate in the U.S. Army.
Move to Hollywood
In 1946, he moved to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to pursue a career in Hollywood and eventually appeared in The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story is a 1946 musical biography which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as "Julie Benson" , William Demarest as his manager, Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne as his parents, and Scotty Beckett as the young Jolson.The...
as a film editor, as well as performing bit parts in Blondie Knows Best, Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
’s Shockproof
Shockproof
Shockproof is a 1949 movie starring Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight.The director of Shockproof, Douglas Sirk, said he took the assignment because the movie dealt with one of his favorite themes: the price of flouting taboos....
, and a handful of program westerns. In all, from 1947 to 1952, Sears would appear as an actor in 58 films that he did not direct, playing a variety of supporting roles, in addition to his work as a director. He was contracted to Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
as a director along with several other "potentials" who began as dialogue directors: Henry Levin
Henry Levin
Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. He broke into film in 1943 as a dialogue director for the films Dangerous Blondes and Appointment in Berlin for Columbia Pictures...
, William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
, Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
and Robert Gordon.
In Ray Nazarro
Ray Nazarro
Ray Nazarro was an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter-Biography:Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Nazarro entered the movie business during the silent era, and began directing short films in 1929 with In and Out...
’s 1947 western The Lone Hand Texan, Sears played the role of Sam Jason, an oil prospector whose claim is being challenged by the usual band of unscrupulous miscreants. Charles Starrett
Charles Starrett
Charles Starrett was an American actor best known for his starring role in the Durango Kid Columbia Pictures western series. He was born in Athol, Massachusetts.-Career:...
, as The Durango Kid, comes to Sam’s rescue. Knowing how to communicate with other actors, Sears struck up a friendship with Starrett. In Nazarro’s West of Dodge City (1947), Sears had a chance to play a slightly larger role in the proceedings, sharing several scenes with Starrett, and further cementing their off-screen relationship. In Nazarro’s Law of the Canyon (1947), Sears had an even more conspicuous role, as the villainous Dr. Middleton, who plunges to his well-deserved death in the film’s final moments. After a series of bit parts, Sears got his first major break as a film director on the Durango Kid western Desert Vigilante (1949). By 1950, Sears had assumed directorial control of the series, directing such entries as Lightning Guns (1950), Prairie Roundup (1951), and Ridin’ the Outlaw Trail (1951).
Partnership with Sam Katzman
Sears’ speed and prolificacy soon brought his name to the attention of both producerFilm producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...
and Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
. In 1952 Katzman teamed Sears with veteran serial director Spencer Gordon Bennet
Spencer Gordon Bennet
Spencer Gordon Bennet was an American film producer and director. Known as the "King of Serial Directors", he directed more film serials than any other director.-Biography:...
for Blackhawk
Blackhawk (serial)
Blackhawk is a Columbia movie serial based on the comic book Blackhawk published by Quality Comics at the time. The serial's subtitle was "Fearless Champion of Freedom". It was the studio's 49th serial....
. With a running time of 242 minutes, or slightly more than four hours, and a production schedule of 28 days, Blackhawk was the acid test for Sears’ directorial skills. The 15-chapter serial went off without a hitch, and Katzman made Sears an offer. Sears would spend the rest of his brief career working for Katzman’s Clover Productions or Wallace MacDonald
Wallace MacDonald
Wallace Archibald MacDonald was an Canadian silent film actor, and film producer....
, another “B” Columbia producer, who was slightly less penurious than Katzman.
Decisively breaking from the Western genre by design, Sears campaigned for a less transparently generic assignment, and was rewarded with Last Train From Bombay (1952), a straightforward thriller set in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, starring Jon Hall
Jon Hall
Jon Hall was an American film actor.-Biography:Born Charles Felix Locher in Fresno, California, and raised in Tahiti by his father, the Swiss-born actor Felix Locher, he was a nephew of James Norman Hall, one of the authors of Mutiny on the Bounty...
, then at the peak of his small-screen fame as the title character in Ramar of the Jungle
Ramar of the Jungle
For a related series, see Jungle Jim , starring Johnny Weismuller, Martin Huston, and Dean Fredericks.Ramar of the Jungle was a syndicated American television series that starred Jon Hall as Dr. Tom Reynolds and Ray Montgomery as his associate. Episodes were set in Africa and India...
. Last Train from Bombay was so successful as a second-feature that Wallace MacDonald
Wallace MacDonald
Wallace Archibald MacDonald was an Canadian silent film actor, and film producer....
rushed Sears into production of Target Hong Kong (1953), another Oriental thriller, again with an espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
-centered narrative, but with the much more capable Richard Denning
Richard Denning
Richard Denning , was an American actor who starred in such movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon and An Affair to Remember , and on radio with Lucille Ball as her husband George Cooper in My Favorite Husband , the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy, for which Denning was replaced by Ball's...
in the lead. Sears’ next film, however, marked a genuine step up for the director. Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953), although a western, was shot in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and featured Sears’ first top-flight cast: veterans John Hodiak
John Hodiak
John Hodiak was an American actor who worked in radio and film.-Early life:He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Walter Hodiak and Anna Pogorzelec . He was of Ukrainian and Polish descent...
and David Brian
David Brian
David Brian was an American actor and dancer.-Career:Brian was signed by Warner Bros. in 1949 and appeared in such films as The Damned Don't Cry! and Flamingo Road with Joan Crawford, and Beyond the Forest with Bette Davis...
, as well as a very young John Derek
John Derek
John Derek was an American actor, director and photographer.-Career:His matinee-idol good looks quickly got him supporting roles, most notably as Broderick Crawford's son in All the King's Men , but he also enjoyed leads such as "Nick Romano" in Knock on Any Door opposite Humphrey Bogart John...
, then under contract to Columbia as an actor.
Most prolific period
His career kicked into high gear between 1953 and 1957, during which time Sears directed an astounding 29 feature films. He had successfully cracked the Hollywood system, and getting work was no longer a problem. Now, however, as Sears gained confidence in his craft, he began to make a series of dark, foreboding crime films, many shot on location and dealing with big-city corruption, vice and racketeering, in addition to several science fictionScience fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
films, at least one horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, the first full-length rock and roll musical and the first Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
, all on six-day schedules.
The Miami Story (1954) is a big-city crime thriller that deals with corrupt politicians. Sears and his crew shot much of the film on location, with Barry Sullivan
Barry Sullivan (actor)
Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
in the lead role of Mick Flagg, a reformed gangster determined to clean up the corrupt metropolis. Sears then began production on what is arguably one of the most intriguing films of his brief career: Cell 2455 Death Row (1955), based on the autobiography of Caryl Chessman
Caryl Chessman
Caryl Whittier Chessman was a convicted robber and rapist who gained fame as a death row inmate in California. Chessman's case attracted worldwide attention, and as a result he became a cause célèbre for the movement to ban capital punishment.-Crime and conviction:Born in St...
, the notorious “Red Light Bandit” of the early 1950s, who successfully acted as his own attorney in staving off a series of execution attempts by the State of California at San Quentin prison, only to finally die in the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
on May 2, 1960.
In his last years Sears created some of his most interesting projects, such as 1955’s Teen-Age Crime Wave in which a group of marauding teenagers terrorize a rural family in the aftermath of a robbery; The Werewolf
The Werewolf (1956 film)
-Plot summary:A man finds himself lost in a remote village called Mountaincrest. His mind is clouded, but he learns later that two scientists injected him with a special serum containing irradiated wolf's blood when he was suffering from amnesia after being in a car accident...
(1956), one of the best of the late Columbia horror films, with a surprisingly sympathetic performance from Steven Ritch, who is unwittingly transformed into a lycanthrope by a group of unscrupulous scientists; Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956), a truly bizarre western in which corrupt undertaker Peter Boggs (played by the ever-unctuous Percy Helton
Percy Helton
Percy Helton was an American film and television actor.One of his most memorable supporting roles was playing a drunken Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. He also appeared in small but memorable roles in Criss Cross , The Set-Up , Kiss Me Deadly and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...
) conspires with a gang of desperados to rob the bank of a frontier town in the midst of a blinding sandstorm; and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
(1956), which remains Sears’ best-known film, immeasurably enhanced by Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
’s then-state-of-the-art stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
special effects. It's also one of the few Sears films available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
He also directed the pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
classic Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
(1956), featuring Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
, The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys were an American vocal group, influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s.-Career:Ferdinando Dominick Bello was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Italian American parents. He became a trombonist, bassist, drummer, and singer, playing in various...
and the Godfather of all rock-and-roll DJs, Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
; Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956), the first Latino/a musical, featuring Perez Prado
Perez Prado
Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...
, Luis Arcaraz and Manny Lopez with their respective orchestras, performing a non-stop medley of authentic pop hits, presenting the Latino/a public for the first time with positive images of their music and culture in a mainstream Hollywood film; Calypso Heat Wave (1957), which showcased Caribbean music
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
and offered a young Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
her first screen role; and Escape From San Quentin (1957), a neatly constructed suspense thriller involving a prison escape using a stolen plane to fly over the walls of the infamous penitentiary.
Death
In addition to the feature film work listed above, Sears also began directing television shows on the side. He was pushing himself too hard, however, and neglecting his health. On Saturday, November 30, 1957, while preparing for his next film at his office at Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, Sears suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage of a communicating artery of the Circle of Willis
Circle of Willis
The Circle of Willis is a circle of arteries that supply blood to the brain...
. Sears left eight feaure films completed at his death, which were posthumously released.
Filmography
- Desert Vigilante (1949)
- Horsemen of the Sierras (1949)
- Across the Badlands (1950)
- Raiders of Tomahawk Creek (1950)
- Lightning Guns (1950)
- Prairie Roundup (1951)
- Ridin' the Outlaw Trail (1951)
- Snake River Desperadoes (1951)
- Bonanza Town (1951)
- Pecos River (1951)
- Smoky Canyon (1952)
- The Hawk of Wild River (1952)
- Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom (1952)
- The Kid from Broken Gun (1952)
- Last Train from Bombay (1952)
- Target Hong Kong (1953)
- Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
- The 49th ManThe 49th ManThe 49th Man is a 1953 American thriller film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Fred F. Sears and starring John Ireland, Richard Denning, Suzanne Dalbert, Peter Marshall, Robert Foulk and Mike Connors...
(1953) - Sky Commando (1953)
- Mission Over Korea (1953)
- The Nebraskan (1953)
- El AlaméinEl AlameinEl Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.- Climate :...
(1953) - Overland Pacific (1954)
- Wyoming RenegadesWyoming RenegadesWyoming Renegades is a 1954 Western film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Phil Carey, Gene Evans and Martha Hyer. The film features Butch Cassidy as the leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang.-Plot synopsis:...
(1954) - Massacre CanyonMassacre CanyonThe Massacre Canyon Battle took place on August 5, 1873, in Hitchcock County, Nebraska. It was one of the last battles between the Pawnee and the Sioux and the last large-scale battle between Native American tribes in the area of the present-day United States of America...
(1954) - The Miami Story (1954)
- The Outlaw Stallion (1954)
- Cell 2455 Death Row (1955)
- Chicago Syndicate (1955)
- Apache AmbushApache AmbushApache Ambush is a 1955 western film, released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Bill Williams and Richard Jaeckel.-Plot:...
(1955) - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955)
- Inside DetroitInside DetroitInside Detroit is a 1955 drama film starring Dennis O'Keefe, Pat O'Brien, Tina Carver, Ken Christy, Joe Turkel, released by Columbia Pictures and directed by Fred F. Sears. The original music score was composed by Mischa Bakaleinikoff.-Synopsis:...
(1956) - Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956)
- Rock Around the ClockRock Around the Clock (film)Rock Around the Clock is the title of a 1956 Musical film that featured Bill Haley and His Comets along with Alan Freed, The Platters, Tony Martinez and His Band, and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys. It was produced by B-movie king Sam Katzman and directed by Fred F...
(1956) - Earth vs. the Flying SaucersEarth vs. the Flying SaucersEarth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
(1956) - The Werewolf (1956)
- Miami Expose (1956)
- Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956)
- Don't Knock the RockDon't Knock the RockDon't Knock the Rock is a 1957 rock and roll film starring Alan Dale as a rock star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults...
(1956) - Rumble on the Docks (1956)
- Utah Blaine (1957)
- The Giant ClawThe Giant ClawThe Giant Claw is a 1957 science fiction film about a giant bird that terrorizes the world. Produced by Clover Productions under the working title "Mark of the Claw" and released through Columbia Pictures, it starred Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday and was directed by Fred F. Sears...
(1957) - The Night the World ExplodedThe Night the World ExplodedThe Night the World Exploded is a 1957 science fiction film. The film was written by Jack Natteford and Luci Ward and directed by Fred F. Sears for producer Sam Katzman.-Plot:...
(1957) - Calypso Heat Wave (1957)
- Escape from San Quentin (1957)
- The World Was His Jury (1958)
- Going Steady (1958)
- Crash Landing (1958)
- Badman's Country (1958)
- Ghost of the China Sea (1958)