Delmer Daves

Delmer Lawrence Daves (July 24, 1904 – August 17, 1977) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor.[1]

Delmer Daves
BornJuly 24, 1904
San Francisco, California
DiedAugust 17, 1977(1977-08-17) (aged 73)
La Jolla, California
OccupationFilm director, screenwriter, film producer, actor

He was known for dramas and Western adventures, the two most acclaimed of these being Broken Arrow (1950) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957). In addition, Daves worked with some of the best known actors of the time; a few would make several movies with him, including Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford, Richard Egan, Alan Ladd, Troy Donahue, Ernest Borgnine, and Rossano Brazzi. He also launched soon-to-be-stars such as Anne Bancroft, Olivia Hussey, George C. Scott, Sandra Dee, and Charles Bronson.[2][3]

Life and career

Early life

Born in San Francisco, Delmer Daves first pursued a career as a lawyer. While attending Stanford University, he became interested in the burgeoning film industry, first working as a prop boy on the western The Covered Wagon (1923), directed by James Cruze and serving as a technical advisor on a number of films.[4]

After finishing his education in law, he continued his career in Hollywood.

Screenwriter and actor at MGM

After moving to Hollywood in 1928, he became a screenwriter at MGM, his first credit being the early sound comedy film So This Is College (1929), directed by Sam Wood. It was the film debut of Robert Montgomery.

Daves also moonlighted as an actor making small appearances in films like The Night Flyer (1928) (produced by Cruze), Three Sinners (1928), and several films directed by Cruze: The Mating Call (1928), Excess Baggage (1928), The Duke Steps Out (1929), and A Man's Man (1929), as well as So This Is College (1929), which he wrote.[4]

Daves appeared in The Bishop Murder Case (1930) and Good News (1930).

He wrote and appeared in Shipmates (1931) and Divorce in the Family (1931) and worked uncredited on Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) and Slim (1931).

Daves then focused on writing, working on scripts for Clear All Wires! (1933) at MGM, and No More Women (1934) at Paramount.

Warners

Daves signed a contract at Warner Bros. where he initially wrote musicals: Dames (1934) and Flirtation Walk (1934). He followed this with Stranded (1935), Page Miss Glory (1935, for Cosmopolitan Pictures), Shipmates Forever (1935), and Miss Pacific Fleet (1935).

Daves' first really significant credit as screenwriter was The Petrified Forest (1936) adapted from the play by Robert E. Sherwood. He wrote The Go Getter (1937), The Singing Marine (1937), She Married an Artist (1938) (over at Columbia) and Professor Beware (1938) for Harold Lloyd at Paramount Pictures. He worked uncredited on Slim (1937) starring Henry Fonda.

Daves had a big critical and commercial success with Love Affair (1939) for RKO. (Almost twenty years later, Leo McCarey, director of Love Affair, was responsible for the nearly identical An Affair to Remember (1957) using Daves' script.)

He was very much in demand as a writer, his credits including two films at Paramount, $1000 a Touchdown (1939) and The Farmer's Daughter (1940). He did It All Came True (1940) starring Humphrey Bogart at Warners and Safari (1940) at Paramount.

Daves wrote a propaganda short, Young America Flies (1940) then did Unexpected Uncle (1941) at RKO, The Night of January 16th (1941) at Paramount, and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) at Columbia. He also helped write Stage Door Canteen (1943), a huge hit for Warners.

Director

Daves made his directorial debut in the Cary Grant wartime adventure Destination Tokyo (1943).[5]

He followed it with The Very Thought of You (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), and Pride of the Marines (1945) starring John Garfield. All these films were very successful commercially.[6]

Daves was a writer only on Ladies' Man (1947). He wrote and directed The Red House (1947), starring Edward G. Robinson, for Sol Lesser at United Artists.

Back at Warners he wrote and directed Dark Passage (1947),[7] which utilized a first-person approach and starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. He directed Richard Brooks' script in To the Victor (1948), directed A Kiss in the Dark (1949) and wrote and directed Task Force (1949) with Gary Cooper.

20th Century Fox

In February 1949, Daves signed a long-term contract at 20th Century Fox.[8] He directed the critically acclaimed Broken Arrow (1950) starring James Stewart at 20th Century Fox, which made a star of Jeff Chandler.[7][9]

He wrote and directed Bird of Paradise (1951) at Fox; directed Return of the Texan (1952); and wrote and directed Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953) at Fox.[7] As director, he only did Never Let Me Go (1953) at MGM and Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) under contract.

He returned to Warners to write, produce and directed Drum Beat (1954) with Alan Ladd, for Ladd's company.[10]

Daves was a writer only on White Feather (1955) for Fox. He wrote and directed the adult Western Jubal (1956) with Rod Steiger at Columbia and The Last Wagon (1956) starring Richard Widmark at Fox.[5]

He directed two films at Columbia, 3:10 to Yuma (1957) starring Van Heflin at Columbia and Cowboy (1958) starring Jack Lemmon. Daves garnered a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for his work on Cowboy.

He also directed Kings Go Forth (1958) starring Frank Sinatra for United Artists, The Badlanders (1958) with Ladd at MGM and The Hanging Tree (1959) starring Gary Cooper.

Delmer Daves Productions

Daves wrote, produced and directed a series of films with Troy Donahue at Warners: A Summer Place (1959), Parrish (1961), Susan Slade (1961) and Rome Adventure (1962).

Following the success of A Summer Place, Daves's career made an unexpected and profound shift away from the masculine action films Daves had become known for towards so-called "women's pictures." — According to Daves's son, Michael Daves, this change was precipitated partly by Daves's heart attack in 1958; on his doctors’ advice, he decided to limit himself to less strenuous, studio-based productions.[11]

Daves final films were all at Warners Spencer's Mountain (1963) starring Henry Fonda, Youngblood Hawke (1964) and The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965). Spencer's Mountain (1963), which he wrote, directed, and produced, based upon Earl Hamner Jr's autobiographical novel of the same name, and served as the basis for the later television series The Waltons.[12]

Daves was married to actress Mary Lawrence from 1938 until he died on August 17, 1977.

He is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Legacy

Despite highly acclaimed films such as The Red House, Dark Passage, 3:10 to Yuma and The Hanging Tree, a growing number of film historians such as Dave Kehr consider him to be an underrated and neglected filmmaker.[11] "Many of Delmer Daves's films are beloved", writes Kent Jones, "but to say that he remains a misunderstood and insufficiently appreciated figure in the history of American movies is a rank understatement."[13]

As a director, he first built his reputation on morally complex war films (such as Pride of the Marines) and socially progressive westerns. For example, his film Broken Arrow has been credited as one of the first to introduce the issue of racism in postwar American movies, and it is widely regarded as one of the first "pro-Native American" films.[11]

Many view his celebrated late period romances as sharing the same virtues as his earlier action films: "characters composed with the utmost integrity and respect; a gift for creating a detailed and convincing social background; and a strong, clear narrative style that allowed him to manage a large cast of characters and several simultaneous levels of dramatic events."[11]

Partial filmography

References
  1. "Delmer Daves". The New York Times.
  2. "Delmer Daves, Motion Picture Executive, Actor". The Washington Post. Aug 19, 1977. p. C8.
  3. Pinkerton, Nick. "FILMS BY DELMER DAVES". Sight and Sound. 23 (7 (Jul 2013)). London. p. 97.
  4. Richard Dyer MacCann (Mar 11, 1958). "Delmer Daves Recalls His Route to the Top: Hollywood Letter". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 11.
  5. Tavernier, Bertrand. "The ethical romantic". Film Comment. 39 (1 (Jan/Feb 2003)). New York. pp. 42–49.
  6. Lusk, Norbert (Jan 11, 1944). "Daves Clicks as Director". Los Angeles Times. p. 8.
  7. "Delmer Daves Filmography". The New York Times.
  8. Schallert, Edwin (Feb 24, 1949). "Vera Ralston to Join John Wayne in 'Eagles;' 20th Signs Delmer Daves". Los Angeles Times. p. 21.
  9. Loynd, Ray (27 June 1969). "Steigers Act Out Breakup of a Marriage: Breakup Acted Out by Steigers". Los Angeles Times. p. d1.
  10. Scheuer, Philip K. (Nov 11, 1954). "'Drum Beat' Superior Frontier Melodrama". Los Angeles Times. p. A13.
  11. "CRITIC'S CHOICE – New DVDs: Romance Classics". The New York Times.
  12. MURRAY SCHUMACH (May 19, 1963). "HOLLYWOOD'S LITERARY SET: Gay Cocktail Party Scene From 'Youngblood Hawke' Transcribed to Warner Drama by Delmer Daves Drinking Bout Writer's Guide". New York Times. p. X7.
  13. "The Delmer Daves Problem". The Criterion Collection.
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