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Irving Pichel

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Filmmaker

The Resume

    (June 24, 1891-July 13, 1954)
    Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Acted in 'An American Tragedy (1931),' 'Madame Butterfly (1932),' 'Oliver Twist (1933),' 'The Story of Temple Drake (1933),' 'Cleopatra (1934),' 'British Agent (1934),' 'Jezebel (1938),' and 'Juarez (1939)'
    Directed 'The Most Dangerous Game (1932),' 'The Man I Married (1940),' 'Hudson's Bay (1941),' 'The Pied Piper (1942),' 'The Moon is Down (1943),' 'O.S.S. (1944),' 'A Medal for Benny (1945),' 'Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)' 'Johnny Angel (1945),' 'Tomorrow is Forever (1946),' 'They Won't Believe Me (1947),' 'The Miracle of the Bells (1948)' 'Without Honor (1949),' 'Destination Moon (1950)' and 'Martin Luther (1953)'

Why he might be annoying:

    Before seguing into the director's chair, he was a character actor typecast as stereotypical ethnic villains (like Fagin).
    He had the brilliant idea to cast Frank Sinatra as a village priest in 'Miracle of the Bells.' It bombed.
    The reception to the movie was so bad that one Time Magazine critic wrote 'St. Michael ought to sue.'
    He was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the United States' second Red Scare.
    While he was ultimately not called to testify, he was blacklisted, forcing him eventually to leave the United States in order to direct his final pictures (his assistant later confirmed that he had in fact belonged to the Communist Party).
    The details of his death are murky (there were whispers within his family that his jealous wife, Violette, had procrastinated in getting his heart medicine to him).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He discovered Natalie Wood.
    He directed both Wood's first on-screen appearance in 'The Happy Land' as well as her first major role in 'Tomorrow is Forever.'
    He directed two Oscar nominated performances; Monty Woolley (for 'The Pied Piper') and J. Carroll Naish (for 'A Medal for Benny').
    His film 'Destination Moon' has become a cult classic among Sci-Fi fans, and regularly tops lists of the genre.
    He leant his voice talents to offscreen narration, most famously for the classics 'How Green Was My Valley' and 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.'
    He died suddenly only a week after completing his Biblical epic, 'Day of Triumph.'
    After his death, his widow destroyed all of his papers related to his films.
    He took on the ambitious effort of filming a biopic of the life of Martin Luther - it was released to critical acclaim.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 113 Votes: 64.60% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying