William Witney
William Nuelsen Witney (May 15, 1915 – March 17, 2002) was an American film and television director. He is best remembered for the movie serials he co-directed with John English for Republic Pictures such as "Daredevils of the Red Circle", "Zorro's Fighting Legion" and "Drums of Fu Manchu". Quentin Tarantino called him "one of the greatest action directors in the history of the business." Early years. Witney was born in Lawton, Oklahoma. He was four years old when his father died, and he lived with his uncle, who was an Army captain at Fort Sam Houston. Colbert  Clark, Witney's brother-in-law, introduced him to films by letting him ride in some chase scenes for the serial "Fighting with Kit Carson" (1933). Witney stayed around the Mascot Pictures headquarters while preparing for the entrance exam to the U.S. Naval Academy. After he failed that exam, he continued at the studio, working in the music and editing departments before beginning work as a director. Career. Witney directed many Westerns during his career, and is credited with devising the modern system of filming movie fight sequences in a series of carefully choreographed shots, which he patterned after the  musical sequences of American director Busby Berkeley. Prolific and pugnacious, Witney began directing while still in his 20s, and continued until 1982. During World War II he served in the US Marine Corps combat cameraman unit. Quentin Tarantino has singled out Witney as one of his favorite directors and a "lost master", and considers four films as Witney's best work: "The Golden Stallion" (1949), a Roy Rogers vehicle, "Stranger at My Door" (1956), "The Bonnie Parker Story" (1958), and "Paratroop Command" (1959). Witney also directed "Master of the World" (1961) starring Vincent Price and Charles Bronson. Whitney was also  a director for Jim Davis' syndicated adventure television series, "Rescue 8", which aired from 1958 to 1960. He died of a stroke in 2002.