American film director and actor (1903?1976)
Norman Foster
|
---|
|
Born
| Norman Foster Hoeffer
(
1903-12-13
)
December 13, 1903
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Died
| July 7, 1976
(1976-07-07)
(aged 72)
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Resting place
| Holy Cross Cemetery
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Occupations
| - Director
- screenwriter
- actor
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Years active
| 1926?1976
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Spouses
|
(
m.
1928;
div.
1935)
|
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Children
| 2
|
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Norman Foster
(born
Norman Foster Hoeffer
; December 13, 1903 ? July 7, 1976) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed many
Charlie Chan
and
Mr. Moto
films as well as projects for
Orson Welles
and
Walt Disney
. As an actor he was a leading man in early talkies and also appeared in Welles' final film,
The Other Side of the Wind
.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Norman Foster was born Norman Foster Hoeffer on December 13, 1903,
[1]
in
Richmond, Indiana
.
[2]
He became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in
Indiana
before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies.
He tried a number of theatrical agencies before getting stage work including
The Barker
(1927, New York; 1928, London) in which he appeared opposite future wife
Claudette Colbert
.
[3]
He later appeared on
Broadway
in the
George S. Kaufman
/
Ring Lardner
play
June Moon
in 1929. He began working in crowd scenes in films before moving to bigger parts.
Foster wrote several plays. He gave up acting in the late 1930s to pursue directing, although he occasionally appeared in movies and television programs. Foster directed a number of
Charlie Chan
and
Mr. Moto
mysteries, including
Charlie Chan in Panama
(1940),
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
(1939),
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
(1939),
Charlie Chan in Reno
(1939),
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
(1939),
Mysterious Mr. Moto
(1938),
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance
(1938),
Thank You, Mr. Moto
(1937), and
Think Fast, Mr. Moto
(1937). He co-wrote and directed the "My Friend Bonito" segment of
Orson Welles
's unfinished Pan-American anthology film
It's All True
(1941).
[4]
: 310?311
Initially engaged as a second-unit director who would film background material,
[5]
: 189
Foster came to do much more and the quality of his work would have been recognized with a co-director credit on the film.
[6]
: 31?34
A co-production of
RKO Pictures
and the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
, the non-commercial project was later terminated by RKO.
[4]
: 41
As Welles prepared to go to Brazil to film the
Rio Carnival
for
It's All True
, he temporarily suspended "Bonito" (for which filming was never completed) so Foster could return to Hollywood to direct
Journey into Fear
(1943). Welles played a small on-screen role in the
Mercury Production
, and denied that he took over direction of the film himself.
[7]
: 155
Some of Foster's other directorial efforts include
Kiss the Blood off My Hands
(1948),
Rachel and the Stranger
(1948),
Woman on the Run
(1950) and
The Sign of Zorro
(1958). He directed the
Davy Crockett
segments of the
Walt Disney anthology television series
Disneyland
that were edited into the feature films
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
(1955) and
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
(1956). Foster's second verse of his lyrics to Disney's
Zorro
theme song which was "He is polite, but the wicked take flight, when they catch the sight of Zorro. He's friend of the weak, and the poor, and the meek, this very unique Senor Zorro." never aired on the television series. This version of the
Zorro Theme
including these verses was performed by
The Chordettes
. These verses later appeared in the
Disney Sing-Along Songs
version of the
Zorro Theme
in its 1987 direct-to-video episode, "Heigh-Ho".
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1928, Foster secretly married
Claudette Colbert
in London. Concerned about the reaction of Colbert's mother to their union, they continued to keep their marriage a secret from her, even to the point of living apart.
[3]
In 1935, they divorced, and Foster in October that same year married actress
Sally Blane
, sister of actress
Loretta Young
. They had two children: Gretchen (named for Loretta Young, whose birth name was Gretchen) and Robert.
[8]
Theatre credits
[
edit
]
Date
|
Title
|
Role
|
Notes
|
September 14 ? November 1926
|
Just Life
|
Dick Fellows
|
Henry Miller's Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
October 20 ? November 1926
|
Sure Fire
|
Philip Cole
|
Waldorf Theatre, New York
[9]
|
January 18 ? July 1927
|
The Barker
|
Chris Miller
|
Biltmore Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
November 22, 1927 ? March 1928
|
The Racket
|
Dave Ames
|
Ambassador Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
September 12 ? December 1928
|
Night Hostess
|
Rags Conway
|
Martin Beck Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
November 1 ? December 1928
|
Tin Pan Alley
|
Fred Moran
|
Biltmore Theatre, New York
[9]
|
April 24 ? May 11, 1929
|
Carnival
|
Bobbie Spencer
|
Forrest Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
October 9, 1929 ? June 4, 1930
|
June Moon
|
Fred M. Stevens
|
Broadhurst Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
December 31, 1930 ? January 1931
|
Savage Rhythm
|
|
Writer (with Harry Hamilton)
John Golden Theatre
, New York
[9]
|
Film and television credits
[
edit
]
Actor
[
edit
]
Director
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Hinkson, Jake (April 30, 2011).
"Norman, Is That You? The Long Wait of Norman Foster"
.
Bright Lights Film Journal
. Retrieved
November 6,
2016
.
- ^
Katz, Ephraim
(1998).
The Film Encyclopedia
(3rd ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 481.
ISBN
0-06-273492-X
.
- ^
a
b
Amy Fine Collins (April 2000), "
A Perfect Star
",
Vanity Fair
. Accessed April 19, 2019.
- ^
a
b
c
Benamou, Catherine L. (2007).
It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey
. Berkeley: University of California Press.
ISBN
978-0-520-24247-0
.
- ^
Wilson, Richard, "It's Not
Quite
All True".
Sight & Sound
, Volume 39 Number 4, Autumn 1970.
- ^
Callow, Simon
,
Hello Americans
. New York: Viking, 2006
ISBN
0-670-87256-3
- ^
Welles, Orson
, and
Peter Bogdanovich
, edited by
Jonathan Rosenbaum
,
This is Orson Welles
. New York:
HarperCollins
, 1992;
ISBN
0-06-016616-9
.
- ^
Lewis, Judy (1994).
Uncommon Knowledge
.
ISBN
9780671700195
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"Norman Foster"
.
Internet Broadway Database
. Retrieved
November 6,
2016
.
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"Norman Foster"
.
AFI Catalog of Feature Films
.
American Film Institute
. Retrieved
November 6,
2016
.
- ^
Graver, Gary
(2008).
Rausch, Andrew J.
(ed.).
Making Movies with Orson Welles; A Memoir
. Lanham, Maryland:
Scarecrow Press
. pp. 47?48.
ISBN
978-0-8108-6140-4
.
- ^
Karp, Josh (2015).
Orson Welles's Last Movie: The Making of The Other Side of the Wind
. New York:
St. Martin's Press
. p. 144.
ISBN
9781250007087
.
- ^
a
b
"Norman Foster"
.
BFI Film & TV Database
.
British Film Institute
. Archived from
the original
on November 7, 2016
. Retrieved
November 6,
2016
.
External links
[
edit
]
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