Wilson Davies

Wilson Davies (1930)

**Wilson Davies** (born **David Vadász**, May 30, 1894 - December 21, 1969) was an American director and filmmaker.

## Biography

### Early Life

Wilson Davies was born David Vadász on May 30, 1894 in Toledo, Ohio, the middle child born to Hungarian emigrants from Kecskemét, at that time the part of Austria-Hungary. His father Roland Vadász, was a former soldier, and his mother Petra (née Juhász) worked as a cook and nanny. He had older sister Veronika, and younger brother Erik. Veronika was born in Austria-Hungary and was two when family moved to United States in 1893. Hungarian was the first language to all of the siblings. As many of children in Hungarian neighborhood where he grew up, were Jewish he learnt basics of Hebrew, and later English-speaking children taught him English. In 1902, family decided to move to Columbus, Ohio. In Columbus, David and his siblings graduated from South High School. When he was fourteen, he started working in part-time jobs including receptionist in textile factory and tailor assistant.

### Career

#### Early career

In 1911, when he turned seventeen, now "Wilson Davies" started working at World Film Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where he moved earlier that year. He was there a theatre projectionist and cleaned movie plan. In 1914, when company was purchased by Clint A. Livingston, and Davies was promoted to chief assistant, and was resposible for entering titles and editing films, and received his first official film credits. Later he left the job and started offering skills as cutter, editor, writer and assistant director for other film studios.

#### Later career

From 1919 until 1923, Davies was working with silent film directors, and in 1922, he co-directed of comedy film *Ups and Downs*. In early 1923, while being in Paris, he directed his first film himself. Film was entitled *Culture* and premiered on June 5, 1923. In 1924, he returned to United States and settled in New York City. Then 30-years-old Davies, directed his second film *Fire Dancer*, which premiered on September 26, 1924. He casted his friend, an Indian American Sunita Patel in the main role of the title fire dancer. *Fire Dancer* turned out to be very succesful film and received critial acclaim. In early 1926, he was able to buy his own film studio in Manhattan. The studio was named Wilson Film. Wilson Film produced many film hits, including *English Rose* (1929), *Night Escapes* (1933), *Cat's Eyes* (1935) or *Lost in the Crowd* (1941). In 1943, he started directing television series *Drying Tears* (1943-1950), which lasted seven years. In his final six years of career, he directed three films, *Oceanic Beauty* (1952), *Remember* (1954), and *The Stellar Souls of Our Memories* (1956). He retired in 1956, after thirty three years of his career, at the age of sixty two.

### Personal Life

In 1924, soon after returning to United States, he legally changed his name to Wilson Davies, and met seamstress Catherine Jane Gardner. They wed on August 5, 1925. After opening his film studio, Catherine started working as a costume designer and brang her other seamstresses to help. Couple divorced in 1928, but remained friends and Catherine kept her job as costume designer. During filming *English Rose* in spring 1929, he met actress Meg Swan. Davies engaged to her in September, and they wed on December 2, 1929. They lived in Manhattan, New York. They divorced in 1934, after five years of marriage. In mid 1935, he met voice actress and singer Harriet Jefferson. He engaged to her in September 1936, and the two wed on January 7, 1937 in New York City. Couple had two children together, son Daniel Benedict (1937-1987), and daughter Zita Genevieve (July 28, 1938 - September 9, 2020). Harriet died in December 1956, aged fifty one. In 1958, he started to dividing his time between his mansions in Los Angeles, California and Yonkers, New York.

### Death

Davies died on December 21, 1969 in Yonkers, New York, aged seventy five. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.