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Rex Ingram

 
Director: Rex Ingram
 
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jan 15, 1893 in Dublin, Ireland
  • Died: Jul 21, 1950 in North Hollywood, California
  • Occupation: Director, Writer, Actor
  • Active: teens-'20s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Adventure
  • Career Highlights: The Prisoner of Zenda, The Conquering Power, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Song of Hate (1915)

Biography

Not to be confused with the African American actor of the same name, Irish-born actor/director Rex Ingram was a set designer and painter before entering films as a performer in 1914's Necklace of Rameses. Handsome enough to thrive as a film star, Ingram was more attracted to directing, making his debut in this capacity with the 1916 feature The Great Problem. A consummate artist, Ingram disliked the crass business haggling of Hollywood, and was particularly disenchanted with the level of American writing. He was drawn to the mystical, tragic novels of Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibanez; many of these were unfilmable, but one Ibanez adaptation, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1922), was not only a hit for Ingram but secured the stardom of Rudolph Valentino. Unwilling to submit to rushed production schedules and tight budgets, Ingram was not well loved in Hollywood, though he found a kindred spirit in fellow director Erich Von Stroheim, who like Ingram was meticulous in detail but careless in spending studio money. When Von Stroheim completed the eight-hour film drama McTeague, Ingram volunteered out of friendship to cut the film down to a more playable length. When Ingram's cut was whittled down further by MGM and released as Greed (1924), Ingram decided that he was sick of the so-called "butchers" of Hollywood and retreated to France, where he set up his own studios in Nice to direct films of his own choosing with his wife Alice Terry as star. Visually exquisite, with richly toned photography and beautifully tinted film stock, Ingram's features were artistic successes but box-office disappointments. Seen today, such Ingram films as Mare Nostrum (1926) and The Magician (1927) are feasts for the eye, but rather stodgy and slow; moreover, though he fancied himself a writer, Ingram's screenplays are often confusing and disorganized. Still, he was a staunch individualist in a world of cookie-cutter studio directors, and Ingram had a loyal following, even if his films lost money for his Anerican distributors. Utterly opposed to the introduction of talking pictures, Ingram made one sound film, Baroud (1931), which was filmed in Morocco. Thereafter, Ingram abandoned filmmaking for the tenets of Islam, devoting the last two decades of his life to introspective worship, writing, and sculpting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Rex Ingram (director)
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Rex Ingram
Born Reginald Ingram Montgomery Hitchcock
January 15, 1892(1892-01-15)
Dublin, Ireland
Died July 21, 1950 (aged 58)
North Hollywood, California
Spouse(s) Doris Pawn (m.1917)
Alice Terry (1921-1950)

Rex Ingram (January 15, 1892 – July 21, 1950) was a film director, producer, writer and actor. Legendary director Erich von Stroheim once called him "the world's greatest director."[1]

Born Reginald Ingram Montgomery Hitchcock in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a clergyman.[2] He was educated at Saint Columba's College, near Rathfarnam, County Dublin.[2] He spent most of his adolescent life living in the Old Rectory, Kinnity, Birr, County Offaly where his father was the Church of Ireland rector.[2] He emigrated to the United States in 1911.[2] His brother Francis Clere Hitchcock went on to join the British army and fought during World War I where he was awarded the Military Cross and rose to the rank of Colonel.

Ingram studied sculpture at the Yale University School of Art, but soon moved into film, first taking acting work from 1913 and then writing, producing and directing.[2] His first work as producer-director was in 1916 on the romantic drama The Great Problem.[2] He worked for Edison Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Vitagraph Studios, and then MGM, directing mainly action or supernatural films.[2]

Jackie Coogan "Nazimova" (actress) Gloria Swanson Hollywood Boulevard Picture taken in 1907 of this junction Harold Lloyd Will Rogers Elinor Glyn (Writer) "Buster" Keaton William S. Hart (Two-Gun Bill) Rupert Hughes (Novelist) Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Wallace Reid Douglas Fairbanks Bebe Daniels "Bull" Montana Rex Ingram Peter the hermit Charlie Chaplin Alice Terry (Actress) Mary Pickford William C. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille Use button to enlarge or cursor to investigate
This 1921 Vanity Fair caricature by Ralph Barton shows the famous people who, he imagined, left work each day in Hollywood; use cursor to identify individual figures.

He married twice, first to actress Doris Pawn in 1917; this ended in divorce in 1920.[2] He then married Alice Terry in 1921 with whom he remained for the rest of his life. In 1925, Ingram and Fred Niblo directed the hugely successful epic Ben-Hur, filming parts of it in Italy. He and his wife decided to move to the French Riviera. They formed a small studio in Nice and made several films on location in North Africa, Spain, and Italy for MGM and others.[3]

Amongst others to work for Ingram at MGM on the Riviera during this period was the young Michael Powell, who later went on to direct (with Emeric Pressburger) The Red Shoes and other classics. By Powell's own account, Ingram was a major influence on him.[2] Indeed Ingram's influence on Powell's later work can be detected, especially in its themes in illusion, dreaming, magic and the surreal. David Lean also admitted he was deeply indebted to Ingram,[2] and MGM studio chief Dore Schary once listed the top creative people in Hollywood as D. W. Griffith, Rex Ingram, Cecil B. DeMille, and Erich von Stroheim (in declining order of importance).[2]

Unimpressed with sound, Rex Ingram made only one talkie, Baroud, filmed for Gaumont British Pictures in Morocco. The film was a not a commercial success and Ingram left the film business, returning to Los Angeles to work as a sculptor and writer. Interested in Islam as early as 1927,[4] he converted to the faith in 1933.[5]

Rex Ingram's films were considered by many contemporary directors to be artistic and skillful, with an imaginative and bold visual style. In 1949, the Directors Guild of America bestowed an Honorary Life Membership on him. For his contribution to the motion picture industry he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1651 Vine Street.

He also wrote two novels, Mars in the House of Death and The Legion Advances.

Rex Ingram died in 1950 and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[6]


Filmography

References

  1. ^ Soares, André. Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro. New York: Macmillan, 2002, p. 27. ISBN 0312282311
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Soares, André. Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro. New York: Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0312282311
  3. ^ "New British Film Company; Alastair Mackintosh Leads London Firm--Rex Ingram Is Director." New York Times. May 8, 1928.
  4. ^ "Reports Rex Ingram Has Turned Moslem." New York Times. December 1, 1927.
  5. ^ "Rex Ingram Embracing Mohammedan Faith; Announces Abandoning Motion-Picture Field." New York Times. July 2, 1933.
  6. ^ "Rex Ingram Dead." New York Times. July 23, 1950.

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Director. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rex Ingram (director)".  Read more

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