William Berke

William A. Berke (October 3, 1903 – February 15, 1958) was an American film director, producer, actor and screenwriter.[1] He directed nearly 90 films between 1934 and 1958. He also produced nearly 80 films between 1933 and 1958. He was born in Milwaukee and died in Los Angeles.

William Berke
Nancy Kelly and William Berke on the set of Betrayal from the East - publicity still, 1945
Born(1903-10-03)October 3, 1903
Milwaukee, United States
DiedFebruary 15, 1958(1958-02-15) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, United States
OccupationFilm director, film producer, actor, screenwriter
Years active1922–1958

Richard Fleischer later recalled Berke "was known as King of the B's. For years and years he had made nothing but pictures with ten or twelve day shooting schedules, minuscule budgets of about $100,000 and no stars. Without bothering with editing or any postproduction chores and with short shooting schedules, he was able to squeeze in eight or ten pictures a year. And he was going nuts".[2] According to Fleischer, Berke eventually pestered RKO executives enough to be assigned an A picture with a long shooting schedule and stars and he still shot it in twelve days.[2]

Partial filmography

References
  1. "William Berke". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015 – via Baseline.
  2. Fleischer, Richard (1993). Just Tell Me When to Cry: A Memoir. Carroll and Graf. p. 47. ISBN 9780881849448.
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