George H. Melford (19 February 1877 – 25 April 1961) was an American film actor and director, screenwriter and producer.
Career
Born in Rochester, New York), his real name was George Henry Knauff. Melford was an artistic name adopted, because the son of a German immigrant, Henrietta Knauff. He had four sisters. Melford graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
It was a good stage actor who worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, to be part of Kalem Company, film production company of New York in 1909. Hired by Sidney Olcott to play character roles, in the autumn of 1910 was sent with a film crew to the West coast of the United States. In 1911, alongside Robert g. Vignola, co-directed his first short, starring Ruth Roland, and titled “Arizona Bill” and based on a screenplay written by him. Thereafter Melford directed other thirty films for Kalem Studios until 1915, year in which he was hired by Jesse l. Lasky to direct films for Paramount Pictures. That same year Melford became one of the founding members of the Motion Picture Directors Association.
In 1916, George Melford directed To Have and to Hold, a film based on the novel by Mary Johnston, who had been the best-selling in United States in 1900. In 1921 he directed which probably was his most famous film silent The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino.
Melford continued with the Lasky Company for ten years and later went to Universal Studios, producing for which he directed his first sound film in 1929. The following year co-directed four films in Spanish, including shot in Dracula 1931 version in that language. Melford simultaneously filmed it English, using the same decorations and shooting at night with a computer and supporting different.
His last major work as director arrived in 1937 when he and Harry l. Fraser co-dirigieron the first serial of Columbia Pictures, a production of 15 adventures entitled Jungle Menace, and starring Frank Buck hour-long episodes.
At the age of sixty Melford was addicted to work and loved the world of entertainment. However, although never stopped working, needed to reduce their stressful pace as director, decided to act as a character actor, while in 1946 Harry l. Fraser persuaded him to codirecting “Jungle Terror,” a feature film sequel to the successful serial Jungle Menace.
Therefore, after having conducted over 130 films films devoted to small roles. In the 1940s, Melford formed part of the company of Preston Sturges, character actors appearing in six films written and directed by. Also had a notable performance in 1956 in the ten commandments.
Personal life
George Melford married Louise Marsland in 1904. Louise was widowed, and had a son from a previous marriage with Albert w. LeRoy. His son was called Judson Calkins LeRoy, and took the surname Melford by his adoptive father. Named Judson Melford appeared with his father on several titles between 1911 and 1913, including On the Warpath (1911).
George Melford later had a romantic relationship with actress Jacqueline Logan, which led to marriage divorced in 1924. Louise Marsland died in 1941, and Judson left surname Melford, dedicating over thirty years working as an electrician for Paramount Studios.
The following Melford, which lasted less than two years, marriage was actress Diana Miller, died from tuberculosis in 1927 at the age of 25.
George Melford appeared last film in 1960, at 83 years of age, died in Hollywood, California, in 1961 of heart disease. He was buried in the cemetery Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.
Selected filmography
Actor
* The Wayward Daughter (1909)
* The Touch of to child’s Hand (1910)
* When Two Hearts Are Won (1911)
* The Bugler of Battery B (1912)
* Perils of the sea (1913)
* The Barrier of Ignorance (1914)
* Ambush (1939)
* Brigham Young (1940)
* Robbers of the Range (1941)
* That Other Woman (1942)
* Dixie Dugan (1943)
* The Big Noise (Uncredited, 1944)
* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Uncredited, 1945)
* The Bride Wore Boots (Uncredited, 1946)
* Thunder in the Valley (Uncredited, 1947)
* When My Baby Smiles at me (Uncredited, 1948)
* The Stratton Story (Uncredited, 1949)
* A Ticket to Tomahawk (Uncredited, 1950)
* Carrie (Uncredited, 1952)
* A Blueprint for Murder (Uncredited, 1953)
* The Egyptian (Uncredited, 1954)
* Prince of Players (Uncredited, 1955)
* The ten commandments-(not required to prove, 1956)
* Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons (1960)
Director
* Arizona Bill (1911)
* The Soldier Brothers of Susanna (1912)
* The Battle of Bloody Ford (1913)
* The Boer War (1914)
* Young Romance (1915)
* To Have and to Hold (1916)
* Nan of Mountain Music (1917)
* Wild Youth (1918)
* The Sea Wolf (1920)
* The Round-Up (1920)
* The Sheik (1921)
* Burning Sands (1922)
* You Can’t Fool Your Wife (1923)
* The Dawn of to Tomorrow (1924)
* Simon Jester the (1925)
* Going Crooked (1926)
* A man’s Past (1927)
* Freedom of the Press (1928)
* The goodwill of the dead (The Cat and the Canary) (1930)
* Dracula (1931)
* The Viking (1931)
* The criminal Code (1933)
* Jungle Menace (serial) (1937)
* Jungle Terror (1946)
Producer
* Behold My Wife (1920)
* Moran of the Lady Letty (1922)
* East of Borneo (1931)
Screenwriter
* Arizona Bill (1911)
* Prisoners of War (1913)
* The Wartime Siren 1913 (Argument)
* The Fire-Fighting Zouaves 1913 (Argument)
* Big Timber (1924)
* Is Fury (1929)
