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Henry King

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Filmmaker

The Resume

    (January 24, 1886-June 29, 1982)
    Born in Christiansburg, Virginia
    Middle name was Edmonson
    Directed ‘Stella Dallas (1925),’ ‘In Old Chicago (1938),’ ‘Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938),’ ‘The Black Swan (1942),’ ‘The Song of Bernadette (1943),’ ‘Wilson (1944),’ ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952),’ ‘Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955),’ Carousel (1956),’ and ‘Farewell to Arms (1957)’
    Nominated for the Best Director Oscar in 1944 and 1945
    Received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America (1956)

Why he might be annoying:

    His grandfather served under Robert E. Lee in the Civil War.
    When he was auditioning actresses for the title role in Song of Bernadette, he had the applicants look at a stick and pretend it was a vision of the Virgin Mary.
    He chose Jennifer Jones because ‘she didn't just look…she saw’ (had nothing to do with David O. Selznick - who she was having an affair with - pushing for her to be cast).
    He would continue to insert Jennifer Jones into his projects even when it made little sense (casting her as an Asian doctor in ‘Love is a Many Splendored Thing’).
    His Woodrow Wilson biopic was a box office bomb and one of the first blatant ‘Oscar bait’ attempts by a studio.
    Roddy McDowall (then a young Fox contract player) was made to sit through the film multiple times and hated it - later calling it ‘chloroform.’
    His last two directorial efforts: ‘Beloved Infidel (1959)’ and ‘Tender is the Night (1962)’ were overproduced flops.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He appeared in sixty silent movies before shifting to the director’s chair.
    He was one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of the 1930’s.
    He served as the deputy commander of the Civil Air Patrol coastal patrol during World War II.
    He won the first Golden Globe for Best Director for ‘Song of Bernadette.’
    He is credited with making stars out of Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and Tyrone Power (promoting them often over the objections of studio heads).
    His movie musical ‘Carousel’ opened to a lukewarm reception but has since gained a fan following, ranking #41 on Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Musicals.
    Ernest Hemingway called ‘Snows of Kilimanjaro’ his favorite film adaptation of his work.
    At the time of his death, he was the oldest licensed private pilot in the United States, having obtained his license in 1918.

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying