Hugo Fregonese

Hugo Geronimo Fregonese (April 8, 1908 in Mendoza – January 11, 1987 in Tigre)[1] was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who worked both in Hollywood and his home country.[1]

Hugo Fregonese
Fregonese in the 1950s
Born
Hugo Geronimo Fregonese

(1908-04-08)April 8, 1908
Mendoza, Argentina
DiedJanuary 11, 1987(1987-01-11) (aged 78)
Tigre, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Alma materColumbia University
OccupationDirector, screenwriter
Years active1935–1975
Notable work
Savage Pampas
My Six Convicts
Decameron Nights
Blowing Wild
Black Tuesday
Marco Polo
The Secret of Dr. Mabuse
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1947; div. 1958)​
Children2

He made his directorial debut in 1943. In 1949, he directed Apenas un delincuente. Most of Fregonese's American films were Westerns and crime melodramas, like Man in the Attic (1953) and Black Tuesday (1954). He worked with worldwide renowned actors such as Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Anthony Quinn, Edward G. Robinson, Luisa Vehil, Víctor Laplace, Soledad Silveyra, Paul Naschy and Joel McCrea, among others.

For directing the now-almost forgotten film My Six Convicts (1952), Fregonese was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature Film.

Biography

A former sports journalist, Fregonese attended Columbia University in 1935, then was hired to be a technical advisor for films with Latin American themes. By 1938, he was again living in Argentina. There he worked as an editor, assistant director and short film director before heading to Hollywood, where he developed much of his career as a feature film director.

He had two children with his first wife, American actress Faith Domergue. The couple were married in Buenos Aires, at the San America Hotel, on June 16, 1947. The couple had a tumultuous relationship but it finally brought happiness when their first child, Diana Maria, was born on July 19, 1948 and the second child, John Anthony, was born on May 14, 1950. The couple separated in 1957 and divorced on January 28, 1958.

In his later years, Fregonese directed some pictures in Europe. In 1971 he returned to Argentina, where he continued to make films. While living in the city Tigre, Fregonese suffered a heart attack and died on January 17, 1987.[1]

Partial filmography

References
  1. Cine Nacional, Hugo Fregonese filmography Cinenacional.com


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.