George Fitzmaurice

Biography

From Wikipedia George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and producer. Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914 until his death in 1940, he directed over 80 films, including several successful movies such as The Son of the Sheik, Raffles, Mata Hari, and Suzy. At the beginning of his directorial career, Fitzmaurice was astute at directing stage actresses in their initial films with the first wave of great Broadway stars that migrated to motion pictures during the World War I era, including Mae Murray, Elsie Ferguson, Fannie Ward, Helene Chadwick, Irene Fenwick, Gail Kane, and Edna Goodrich. Son of the Sheik is his most famous extant silent film, no doubt aided by the sudden death of its star, Rudolph Valentino. Lilac Time is a classic war/romance film. Fitzmaurice however directed scores of silent films of which the majority of them are lost to the ravages of decompostion. Recent discoveries in Gosfilmofond in Russia include 1919's Witness for the Defense with Elsie Ferguson and 1923's Kick In with Bert Lytell. A restoration of his 1928 part talkie hybrid The Barker is winning praise from many fil…

Directed

1. Mata Hari (1931) — Director
2. The Son of the Sheik (1926) — Director
3. Suzy (1936) — Director
4. The Devil to Pay! (1930) — Director
5. Raffles (1930) — Director
6. The Locked Door (1929) — Director
7. As You Desire Me (1932) — Director
8. Strangers May Kiss (1931) — Director
9. The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) — Director
10. Arsène Lupin Returns (1938) — Director
11. Live, Love and Learn (1937) — Director
12. Lilac Time (1928) — Director
13. Petticoat Fever (1936) — Director
14. Adventure in Diamonds (1940) — Director
15. The Man From Home (1922) — Director
16. The Unholy Garden (1931) — Director
17. The Bad One (1930) — Director
18. Three Live Ghosts (1922) — Director
19. The Witness for the Defense (1919) — Director
20. The Barker (1928) — Director
21. One Heavenly Night (1930) — Director
22. The Man and the Moment (1929) — Director
23. On with the Dance (1920) — Director
24. The Eternal City (1923) — Director
25. A Thief in Paradise (1925) — Director
26. The Night of Love (1927) — Director
27. His Captive Woman (1929) — Director
28. Big Jim Garrity (1916) — Director
29. Our Better Selves (1919) — Director
30. A Society Exile (1919) — Director
31. Counterfeit (1919) — Director
32. Vacation from Love (1938) — Director
33. Cytherea (1924) — Director
34. Bella Donna (1923) — Director
35. Paying the Piper (1921) — Director
36. The Right to Love (1920) — Director
37. Tiger Rose (1929) — Director
38. Experience (1921) — Director
39. Common Clay (1919) — Director
40. The Cheat (1923) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) — Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
2. The Legend of Rudolph Valentino (1961) — Self (archive footage)