Richard Thorpe
Directing
Born February 24, 1896 in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA
Richard Thorpe (February 24, 1896 - May 1, 1991) was an American film director. Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred and eighty films. The first full length motion picture he directed for MGM was Last of the Pagans (1935) starring Ray Mala. After directing The Last Challenge in 1967, he retired from the film industry. He died in Palm Springs, California in 1991. Thorpe is also known as the original director of The Wizard of Oz. He was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. Thorpe notoriously gave Judy Garland a blonde wig and cutesy "baby-doll" makeup that made her look like a girl in her late teens rather than an innocent Kansas farm girl of about thirteen. Both makeup and wig were discarded at the suggestion of George Cukor, who was brought in temporarily. Stills from Thorpe's work on the film survive today.
Filmography
The Scorpio Letters
The Last Challenge
That Funny Feeling
The Truth About Spring
The Golden Head
Fun in Acapulco
Follow the Boys
How the West Was Won
The Horizontal Lieutenant
The Honeymoon Machine
The Tartars
The House of the Seven Hawks
Killers of Kilimanjaro
Tip on a Dead Jockey
Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Jailhouse Rock
Quentin Durward
The Prodigal
Bedevilled
Athena
The Student Prince
Knights of the Round Table
All the Brothers Were Valiant
The Girl Who Had Everything
The Prisoner of Zenda
Ivanhoe
Carbine Williams
It's a Big Country
The Unknown Man
The Great Caruso
Vengeance Valley
Three Little Words
Black Hand
Malaya
Challenge to Lassie
The Sun Comes Up
Big Jack
A Date with Judy
On an Island with You
This Time for Keeps
Fiesta
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
Her Highness and the Bellboy
Thrill of a Romance
The Thin Man Goes Home
Two Girls and a Sailor
Cry 'Havoc'
Above Suspicion
Three Hearts for Julia
White Cargo
Apache Trail
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Joe Smith, American
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Barnacle Bill
The Bad Man
Wyoming
20 Mule Team
The Earl of Chicago
Tarzan Finds a Son!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Three Loves Has Nancy
The Crowd Roars
The Toy Wife
The First Hundred Years
Love Is a Headache
Man-Proof
Double Wedding
Lest We Forget
Night Must Fall
Dangerous Number
Tarzan Escapes
The Voice of Bugle Ann
Last of the Pagans
Secret of the Chateau
Strange Wives
Cheating Cheaters
Green Eyes
City Park
Stolen Sweets
The Quitter
Murder on the Campus
Rainbow Over Broadway
A Man of Sentiment
Notorious But Nice
Strange People
I Have Lived
Forgotten
The Secrets of Wu Sin
Women Won't Tell
Slightly Married
The King Murder
Thrill of Youth
Beauty Parlor
The Midnight Lady
Escapade
Probation
Murder at Dawn
Cross-Examination
The Devil Plays
Forgotten Women
Neck and Neck
Grief Street
The Sky Spider
Wild Horse
The Lady from Nowhere
The Lawless Woman
King of the Wild
The Utah Kid
Under Montana Skies
The Thoroughbred
Wings of Adventure
The Dude Wrangler
The Lone Defender
The King of the Kongo
Border Romance
The Bachelor Girl
The Fatal Warning
The Shady Lady
The Flyin' Buckaroo
The Vanishing West
Vultures of the Sea
The Ballyhoo Buster
The Desert of the Lost
Roarin' Broncs
The Soda Water Cowboy
Skedaddle Gold
The Meddlin' Stranger
The Ridin' Rowdy
Tearin' Into Trouble
Between Dangers
Josselyn's Wife
College Days
The Interferin' Gent
Double Daring
Easy Going
The Desert Demon
Tearin' Loose
Thundering Romance
Flames of Desire
Dick Langton
Bringin' Home the Bacon
Hard-Hittin' Hamilton
Fast and Fearless
Three O'Clock in the Morning
Clayton Webster
Burn 'Em Up Barnes
Stephen Thompson