Ford Beebe
Ford Beebe | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 26, 1888 |
| Died | November 26, 1978 (aged 90) |
| Other names | Ford I. Beebe Ford L. Beebe |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter Film director |
| Years active | 1916–1977 |
Ford Beebe (November 26, 1888 – November 26, 1978) was a screenwriter and director. He entered the film business as a writer around 1916 and over the next 60 years wrote and/or directed almost 200 films.
He specialized in B-movies – mostly Westerns – and action serials, working on the "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon" serials for Universal Pictures.
Life
Ford Beebe was born on November 26, 1888, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[1][2] Before moving to Hollywood he was a freelance writer who was also experienced in advertising.[3][4] He arrived in Hollywood in 1916 and began working as a writer for Western films.[4] His first credit was as scenario writer for the 1916 film A Youth of Fortune.[2] Beebe directed for the first time when Leo D. Maloney, who had been directing a film called The Test, fell ill.[4][2] Beebe became known as a director of low-budget films and serials.[4] He was once described as being "an expert at making something out of nothing."[1] The first serial directed by Beebe was 1932's The Shadow of the Eagle.[5] He went on to direct several other serials, notably Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, Buck Rogers, The Green Hornet, and Don Winslow of the Navy; these were noted by film historian Hal Erickson to be the best of Beebe's works.[6]
Beebe preferred to direct westerns; speaking to the Evening Independent, he said that westerns were the "bread and butter" of film studios.[7] He was listed as a director on over 100 films.[2] Alfred Hitchcock commended Beebe for his 1942 film Night Monster, impressed with the speed and economy of the production.[8]
Beebe was married to writer Frances Wiley.[9] The couple had eight children. Their only son, Ford Beebe, Jr., became a director like his father.[4] They lost twin daughters in infancy and had five daughters who survived it: Frances, Mary, Ruthann, Maxine, and Martha. In Beebe's later life he was married to Kitty Delevanti, with whom he had one son, Mike.
Selected filmography
- The Big Catch (1920)
- A Gamblin' Fool (1920)
- The Grinning Granger (1920)
- One Law for All (1920)
- 'In Wrong' Wright (1920)
- Double Danger (1920)
- The Two-Fisted Lover (1920)
- Tipped Off (1920)
- Superstition (1920)
- Fight It Out (1920)
- The Trail of the Hound (1920)
- The Saddle King (1921)
- The Driftin' Kid (1921)
- Sweet Revenge (1921)
- Kickaroo (1921)
- The White Horseman (1921)
- Winners of the West (1921)
- Too Much Business (1922)
- Battling Bunyan (1924)
- The Business of Love (1925)
- The Outlaw Express (1926)
- The Blind Trail (1926)
- The High Hand (1926)
- Don Desperado (1927)
- The Long Loop on the Pecos (1927)
- Border Blackbirds (1927)
- The Black Ace (1928)
- The Apache Raider (1928)
- The Boss of Rustler's Roost (1928)
- The Bronc Stomper (1928)
- The Code of the Scarlet (1928)
- Yellow Contraband (1928)
- .45 Calibre War (1929)
- Overland Bound (1929)
- The Man from Hard Pan (1927)
- The Vanishing Legion (1931)
- The Pride of the Legion (1932)
- The Prescott Kid (1934)
- The Adventures of Rex and Rinty (1935)
- Fighting Shadows (1935)
- Justice of the Range (1935)
- The Revenge Rider (1935)
- Riding Wild (1935)
- Stampede (1936)
- Code of the Range (1936)
- West Bound Limited (1937)
- Jungle Jim (1937)
- Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938)
- Buck Rogers (1939)
- The Phantom Creeps (1939)
- The Stranger from Texas (1939)
- Oklahoma Frontier (1939)
- Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
- The Green Hornet (1940)
- Night Monster (1942)
- Enter Arsène Lupin (1944)
- The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)
- The Lion Hunters (1951)
- Wagons West (1952)
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