Known For
Directing
Born
Feb 24, 1896
Died
May 01, 1991
Place of Birth
Hutchinson, Kansas, USA
Credits
155 titles
Richard Thorpe
Biography
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. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Known For
Filmography
That's Entertainment, Part II
Thanks
The Scorpio Letters
Producer
The Last Challenge
Producer
That Funny Feeling
Director
The Truth About Spring
Director
The Golden Head
Director
Fun in Acapulco
Director
Follow the Boys
Director
How the West Was Won
Special Guest Director
The Horizontal Lieutenant
Director
The Honeymoon Machine
Director
The Tartars
Director
The House of the Seven Hawks
Director
Killers of Kilimanjaro
Director
Tip on a Dead Jockey
Director
Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Director
Jailhouse Rock
Director
Quentin Durward
Director
The Prodigal
Director
Bedevilled
Director
Athena
Director
The Student Prince
Director
Knights of the Round Table
Director
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Director
The Girl Who Had Everything
Director
The Prisoner of Zenda
Director
Ivanhoe
Director
Carbine Williams
Director
It's a Big Country
Director
The Unknown Man
Director
The Great Caruso
Director
Vengeance Valley
Director
Three Little Words
Director
Black Hand
Director
Malaya
Director
Challenge to Lassie
Director
The Sun Comes Up
Director
Big Jack
Director
A Date with Judy
Director
On an Island with You
Director
This Time for Keeps
Director
Fiesta
Director
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
Director
Her Highness and the Bellboy
Director
Thrill of a Romance
Director
The Thin Man Goes Home
Director
Two Girls and a Sailor
Director
Cry 'Havoc'
Director
Above Suspicion
Director
Three Hearts for Julia
Director