Richard Thorpe

Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Biography
Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe 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. He worked frequently at the Poverty Row studio Chesterfield Pictures during the 1930s. The first full-length motion picture he directed for MGM was Last of the Pagans (1935) starring Ray Mala.
At MGM, he teamed up with producer Pandro S. Berman in the 1950s, with whom he made several films, including Ivanhoe (1952), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), Knights of the Round Table (1953), All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) and The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955).
After directing The Last Challenge in 1967, he retired from the film industry.
His two favorite films were Night Must Fall (1937) and Two Girls and a Sailor (1944).
Wizard of Oz
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 13. 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. Further, it is understood that bits of his filmed footage of Toto escaping from the Wicked Witch's castle are featured in the film, albeit uncredited.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd. In 2003 a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California was dedicated to him and his son Jerry.
He died in Palm Springs, California on May 1, 1991.
Selected filmography
As director
Rough Ridin' (1924)
Battling Buddy (1924)
Bringin' Home the Bacon (1924)
Thundering Romance (1924)
Rarin' to Go (1924)
The Desert Demon (1925)
Double Action Daniels (1925)
A Streak of Luck (1925)
Galloping On (1925)
The Saddle Cyclone (1925)
Gold and Grit (1925)
On the Go (1925)
Fast Fightin' (1925)
Double Daring (1926)
The Bandit Buster (1926)
The Bonanza Buckaroo (1926)
College Days (1926)
The Dangerous Dub (1926)
The Twin Triggers (1926)
Deuce High (1926)
The Fighting Cheat (1926)
Twisted Triggers (1926)
Rawhide (1926)
Between Dangers (1927)
Tearin' Into Trouble (1927)
Skedaddle Gold (1927)
The Cyclone Cowboy (1927)
Pals in Peril (1927)
White Pebbles (1927)
The Interferin' Gent (1927)
The Ridin' Rowdy (1927)
The Desert of the Lost (1927)
Roarin' Broncs (1927)
The First Night (1927)
The Meddlin' Stranger (1927)
Ride 'em High (1927)
The Galloping Gobs (1927)
The Obligin' Buckaroo (1927)
Soda Water Cowboy (1927)
The Cowboy Cavalier (1928)
The Ballyhoo Buster (1928)
The Flyin' Buckaroo (1928)
Saddle Mates (1928)
The Valley of Hunted Men (1928)
Desperate Courage (1928)
Vultures of the Sea (1928)
The Vanishing West (1928)
The Fatal Warning (1929)
Border Romance (1929)
The King of the Kongo (1929)
The Utah Kid (1930)
The Thoroughbred (1930)
The Dude Wrangler (1930)
Under Montana Skies (1930)
Wings of Adventure (1930)
The Lady from Nowhere (1931)
The Lawless Woman (1931)
Forgotten Women (1931)
Slightly Married (1932)
Murder at Dawn (1932)
The Secrets of Wu Sin (1932)
Women Won't Tell (1932)
Cross-Examination (1932)
Forbidden Company (1932)
The King Murder (1932)
Escapade (1932)
Forgotten (1933)
Notorious but Nice (1933)
Love Is Dangerous (1933)
Green Eyes (1934)
Secret of the Chateau (1934)
The Quitter (1934)
Cheating Cheaters (1934) with Fay Wray
Last of the Pagans (1935)
Strange Wives (1935)
Tarzan Escapes (1936) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
Night Must Fall (1937) with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell
Dangerous Number (1937) with Ann Sothern and Robert Young
Man-Proof (1938) with Myrna Loy, Franchot Tone, Rosalind Russell, and Walter Pidgeon
The Toy Wife (1938) with Luise Rainer and Melvyn Douglas
Love Is a Headache (1938) with Franchot Tone
The Crowd Roars (1938) with Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, and Maureen O'Sullivan
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) with Mickey Rooney, Walter Connolly, and William Frawley
20 Mule Team (1940) with Wallace Beery
Wyoming (1940) with Wallace Beery
The Earl of Chicago (1940) with Robert Montgomery
Barnacle Bill (1941) with Wallace Beery
The Bad Man (1941) with Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, and Ronald Reagan
Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
White Cargo (1942) with Hedy Lamarr as Tondelayo
Above Suspicion (1943) with Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) with Van Johnson and June Allyson
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) with William Powell and Myrna Loy
Thrill of a Romance (1945) with Esther Williams
Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945) with Hedy Lamarr and Robert Walker
Fiesta (1947) with Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán
This Time for Keeps (1947) with Esther Williams and Jimmy Durante
On an Island with You (1948) with Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, and Jimmy Durante
A Date with Judy (1948) with Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, and Elizabeth Taylor
Malaya (1949) with Spencer Tracy and James Stewart
Big Jack (1949) with Wallace Beery, Richard Conte, Marjorie Main, and Edward Arnold
Challenge to Lassie (1949) with Donald Crisp and Alan Napier
Black Hand (1950) with Gene Kelly
Three Little Words (1950) with Fred Astaire and Red Skelton
The Great Caruso (1951) with Mario Lanza and Ann Blyth
The Unknown Man (1951) with Walter Pidgeon
Vengeance Valley (1951) with Burt Lancaster
Carbine Williams (1952) with James Stewart
Ivanhoe (1952) with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, and Joan Fontaine
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) with Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, and James Mason
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) with Elizabeth Taylor, Fernando Lamas, and William Powell
Knights of the Round Table (1953) with Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner
All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) with Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger
Athena (1954) with Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds
The Student Prince (1954), based on the famous operetta, with Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, and the singing voice of Mario Lanza.
The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955) with Robert Taylor and Robert Morley
Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) with Robert Taylor and Dorothy Malone
Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957) with Dean Martin (Martin's first non-Martin and Lewis movie)
Jailhouse Rock (1957) with Elvis Presley
Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959) with Robert Taylor and Anthony Newley
The House of the Seven Hawks (1959) with Robert Taylor
The Honeymoon Machine (1961) with Steve McQueen
The Tartars (Italian, 1961) with Orson Welles and Victor Mature
The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962) with Jim Hutton and Paula Prentiss
Follow the Boys (1963) with Paula Prentiss
Fun in Acapulco (1963) with Elvis Presley and Ursula Andress
The Golden Head (1964) with George Sanders and Buddy Hackett
The Truth About Spring (1964) with Hayley Mills
That Funny Feeling (1965) with Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, and Donald O'Connor
The Last Challenge (1967) with Glenn Ford and Angie Dickinson
The Scorpio Letters (1967, TV film) with Alex Cord and Shirley Eaton
References
External links
Richard Thorpe at TCMDB
1896 births
1991 deaths
Male actors from Kansas
American male silent film actors
American male stage actors
People from Hutchinson, Kansas
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American male actors
Film directors from Kansas