# Edmund Goulding

Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 1920s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray for films directed by her then husband Robert Z. Leonard. Goulding is best remembered for directing cultured dramas such as Love (1927), Grand Hotel (1932) with Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, Dark Victory (1939) with Bette Davis, The Constant Nymph (1943) with Joan Fontaine, and The Razor's Edge (1946) with Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power. He also directed the classic film noir Nightmare Alley (1947) with Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, and the action drama The Dawn Patrol. He was also a successful songwriter, composer, and producer.

## Biography

Before moving to films, Goulding was an actor, playwright and director on the London stage.
Interviewed about his Goulding biography Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory (2009), film historian Matthew Kennedy stated:
   He not only directed many types of films, but he took on multiple functions on each set. Though he didn't usually take credit, he co-wrote many scripts, composed incidental music, produced, even consulted on makeup, costumes, and hair styling. His one blind spot in production seems to be the camera...When shooting a scene, Eddie was intent on capturing performers at their best and most truthful, but he left the mechanics of filming to his cameramen...he seemed adept at just about everything — comedy (Everybody Does It, We're Not Married!), ensemble dramas (Grand Hotel), family relations (White Banners, Claudia), war (The Dawn Patrol, We Are Not Alone), psychiatry (The Flame Within), show business (Blondie of the Follies), male-female relationships (The Devil's Holiday, Riptide), and even existentialism (The Razor's Edge) and the dark arts of spiritism (Nightmare Alley).
Together with Jack Conway, Goulding holds the distinction of having directed the most Best Picture-nominated films without ever receiving a nomination for Best Director, with three (Grand Hotel, which won the award; Dark Victory; and The Razor's Edge).
Goulding died during heart surgery at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Production co. | Cast | Notes |
| Silent films |||||
| 1916 | Little Lady Eileen | Paramount | Marguerite Clark, Vernon Steele | co-written with Betty T. Fitzgerald |
| 1916 | The Quest of Life | Paramount | Florence Walton, Julian L'Estrange | Based on one of his plays |
| 1917 | The Silent Partner | Paramount | Blanche Sweet, Thomas Meighan | Screenwriter |
| 1918 | The Ordeal of Rosetta | Select | Alice Brady, Crauford Kent | Screenwriter |
| 1919 | The Imp | Selznick | Elsie Janis, Joe King | Screenwriter |
| 1919 | The Perfect Lover | Selznick | Eugene O'Brien, Marguerite Courtot | Screenwriter |
| 1919 | The Glorious Lady | Selznick | Olive Thomas, Evelyn Brent | Screenwriter |
| 1919 | A Regular Girl | Selznick | Elsie Janis, Matt Moore | Screenwriter |
| 1919 | Sealed Hearts | Selznick | Eugene O'Brien, Robert Edeson | Screenwriter |
| 1920 | A Daughter of Two Worlds | First National | Norma Talmadge, Frank Sheridan | Screenwriter |
| 1920 | Madonnas and Men | Independent | Anders Randolf, Edmund Lowe, Gustav von Seyffertitz | Screenwriter |
| 1920 | The Dangerous Paradise | Selznick | Louise Huff, Harry Benham | Screenwriter |
| 1920 | The Sin That Was His | Selznick | William Faversham, Lucy Cotton | Screenwriter |
| 1921 | The Devil | Pathé Exchange | George Arliss, Lucy Cotton | Screenwriter |
| 1921 | Dangerous Toys | Independent | Marguerite Clayton, William Desmond | Screenwriter |
| 1921 | A Man of Stone | Selznick | Conway Tearle, Martha Mansfield | Screenwriter |
| 1921 | Tol'able David | First National | Richard Barthelmess, Gladys Hulette, Ernest Torrence | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | Peacock Alley | Metro | Mae Murray, Edmund Lowe | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | Three Live Ghosts | Paramount | Norman Kerry, Anna Q. Nilsson | Actor |
| 1922 | Till We Meet Again | Independent | Mae Marsh, Walter Miller | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | The Seventh Day | First National | Richard Barthelmess, Anne Cornwall | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | Fascination | Metro | Mae Murray, Creighton Hale | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | Broadway Rose | Metro | Mae Murray, Monte Blue, Ward Crane | Screenwriter |
| 1922 | Heroes of the Street | Warner Bros. | Marie Prevost, Jack Mulhall | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | Fury | First National | Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | Dark Secrets | Paramount | Dorothy Dalton, Robert Ellis | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | Bright Lights of Broadway | Independent | Doris Kenyon, Harrison Ford, Edmund Breese, Lowell Sherman | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | Jazzmania | Metro | Mae Murray, Rod La Rocque, Jean Hersholt | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | Tiger Rose | Warner Bros. | Lenore Ulric, Forrest Stanley, Theodore von Eltz | Screenwriter |
| 1923 | The Bright Shawl | First National | Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, Jean Hersholt | Screenwriter |
| 1924 | The Man Who Came Back | Fox Film | George O'Brien, Dorothy Mackaill | Screenwriter |
| 1924 | Dante's Inferno | Fox Film | Pauline Starke, Ralph Lewis | Screenwriter |
| 1924 | Gerald Cranston's Lady | Fox Film | Alma Rubens, Walter McGrail | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | The Dancers | Fox Film | George O'Brien, Alma Rubens | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | The Scarlet Honeymoon | Fox Film | Shirley Mason, Pierre Gendron | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | The Fool | Fox Film | Edmund Lowe, Raymond Bloomer | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | Havoc | Fox Film | Madge Bellamy, George O'Brien, Walter McGrail | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | Sun-Up | MGM | Lucille La Verne, Conrad Nagel, Pauline Starke | Director, screenwriter |
| 1925 | The Beautiful City | First National | Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, William Powell | Screenwriter |
| 1925 | Sally, Irene and Mary | MGM | Constance Bennett, Joan Crawford, Sally O'Neil | Director, screenwriter |
| 1926 | Dancing Mothers | Paramount Pictures | Conway Tearle, Alice Joyce, Clara Bow | Based on one of his plays |
| 1926 | Paris | MGM | Charles Ray, Joan Crawford, Rose Dione | Director, screenwriter |
| 1927 | Women Love Diamonds | MGM | Pauline Starke, Owen Moore, Lionel Barrymore | Director, screenwriter |
| 1927 | Love | MGM | John Gilbert, Greta Garbo | Director, producer |
| 1928 | A Certain Young Man | MGM | Ramón Novarro / Marceline Day | Uncredited Director. Lost film. |
| 1928 | Happiness Ahead | First National | Colleen Moore, Edmund Lowe | Screenwriter |
| 1928 | A Lady of Chance | MGM | Norma Shearer, Lowell Sherman | Screenwriter |
| 1929 | Queen Kelly | United Artists | Gloria Swanson, Walter Byron | Hired by Swanson to help complete and edit the film |
| Sound films |||||
| 1929 | The Trespasser | United Artists | Gloria Swanson, Robert Ames | Director, screenwriter |
| 1929 | The Broadway Melody | MGM | Anita Page, Bessie Love | Screenwriter |
| 1930 | Paramount on Parade | Paramount Pictures | Paramount Star Revue | A musical revue using 11 directors and starring various Paramount stars / Some Technicolor sequences |
| 1930 | The Devil's Holiday | Paramount Pictures | Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes | Director, screenwriter |
| 1930 | Hell's Angels | The Caddo Company | Ben Lyon, James Hall, Jean Harlow | Hired by Howard Hughes to direct the silent scenes used in the final film |
| 1930 | Reaching for the Moon | United Artists | Douglas Fairbanks, Bebe Daniels | Director, screenwriter |
| 1930 | The Grand Parade | Pathé Exchange | Helen Twelvetrees, Richard Carle | Screenwriter, producer |
| 1931 | The Night Angel | Paramount Pictures | Fredric March, Nancy Carroll | Director, screenwriter |
| 1932 | Grand Hotel | MGM | Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford | Director, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture |
| 1932 | Flesh | MGM | Wallace Beery, Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley | Screenwriter |
| 1932 | No Man of Her Own | MGM | Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Dorothy Mackaill | Screenwriter |
| 1932 | Blondie of the Follies | MGM | Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Billie Dove | Director |
| 1934 | Riptide | MGM | Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Herbert Marshall | Director, screenwriter |
| 1934 | Hollywood Party | MGM | Hollywood Revue | In an attempt to salvage the film, MGM producer Harry Rapf hired Goulding and eight other directors to direct sequences for the film. |
| 1935 | The Flame Within | MGM | Maureen O'Sullivan, Ann Harding, Herbert Marshall | Director, screenwriter, producer |
| 1935 | A Night at the Opera | MGM | Marx Brothers | Directed a few scenes |
| 1937 | That Certain Woman | Warner Bros., First National Pictures | Bette Davis, Henry Fonda | Director, screenwriter |
| 1938 | White Banners | Warner Bros., Cosmopolitan Pictures | Fay Bainter, Claude Rains, Jackie Cooper | Director |
| 1938 | The Dawn Patrol | Warner Bros. | Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven | Director |
| 1939 | Dark Victory | Warner Bros., First National Pictures | Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart | Director |
| 1939 | The Old Maid | Warner Bros. | Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent | Director |
| 1939 | We Are Not Alone | Warner Bros., First National Pictures | Paul Muni, Jane Bryan | Director |
| 1940 | 'Til We Meet Again | Warner Bros. | Merle Oberon, George Brent | Director. Goulding shot 70% of the film around bouts of pneumonia. |
| 1940 | Two Girls on Broadway | MGM | Lana Turner, Joan Blondell | Screenplay |
| 1941 | The Great Lie | Warner Bros. | Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor | Director |
| 1943 | Forever and a Day | RKO Radio Pictures | Ensemble cast | Director, producer. Goulding directed a segment for the film. |
| 1943 | Old Acquaintance | Warner Bros. | Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins | Screenwriter |
| 1943 | The Constant Nymph | Warner Bros. | Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith | Director |
| 1943 | Claudia | 20th Century Fox | Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young | Director |
| 1944 | Of Human Bondage | Warner Bros. | Paul Henreid, Eleanor Parker | Director |
| 1945 | Flight from Folly | Warner Bros. | Pat Kirkwood, Tamara Desni | Screenwriter |
| 1946 | The Razor's Edge | 20th Century Fox | Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne | Director |
| 1947 | The Shocking Miss Pilgrim | 20th Century Fox | Betty Grable, Dick Haymes | Director. Goulding filled in for George Seaton while he was ill during production / Technicolor film |
| 1947 | Nightmare Alley | 20th Century Fox | Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray | Director |
| 1949 | Everybody Does It | 20th Century Fox | Paul Douglas, Linda Darnell, Celeste Holm | Director |
| 1950 | Mister 880 | 20th Century Fox | Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, Edmund Gwenn | Director |
| 1952 | We're Not Married! | 20th Century Fox | Ensemble cast | Director |
| 1953 | Down Among the Sheltering Palms | 20th Century Fox | William Lundigan, Mitzi Gaynor, Jane Greer | Director. Technicolor film. |
| 1956 | Teenage Rebel | 20th Century Fox | Ginger Rogers, Betty Lou Keim | Director, screenwriter |
| 1958 | Mardi Gras | 20th Century Fox | Pat Boone, Christine Carère | Director |