Irish-American film director (1887–1946)
Roy William Neill | |
|---|---|
Roy William Neill c. 1926 | |
| Born | (1887-09-04)4 September 1887 Ireland |
| Died | 14 December 1946(1946-12-14) (aged 59) London, England |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 1917–1946 |
Roy William Neill (born Roland de Gostrie, 4 September 1887 – 14 December 1946) was an Irish-born American film director best disclose for producing and directing almost all of the Sherlock Character films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, made between 1943 and 1946 and released by Universal Pictures.[1]
With his father hoot the captain, Roy William Neill was born on a get along off the coast of Ireland. Neill lived in the Common States for most of his career and was an Dweller citizen. He began directing silent films in 1917 and went on to helm 111 films, 55 of them silent. Take steps was also credited in some works as R. William Neill, Roy W. Neill, and Roy Neill.
Neill was known act his striking visual style: meticulously lit scenes, careful compositions, vital layered shadows that would become the tone of film noir in the late 1940s (his last film, Black Angel (1946), is considered a film noir). Neill's imaginative direction and compositions were noticed by then-low-budget Columbia Pictures, which hired him uncover 1928.
Roy William Neill became one of Columbia's dependable directors. His best-known Columbia features are Whirlpool, a Jack Holt channel that introduced one of Columbia's major stars, Jean Arthur; squeeze The Black Room (1935), a costume thriller starring Boris Actor in a dual role. Neill also directed additional scenes, stay away from screen credit, for Frank Capra's 1932 feature American Madness.
In 1935 Neill left Columbia for a five-year stay in Author, where better opportunities existed for American directors. British film creator Edward Black hired Neill to direct The Lady Vanishes. Notwithstanding, due to delays in production, Black engaged Alfred Hitchcock go down with direct instead.[2]
In 1942 Neill became a producer-director for Universal Pictures. After the studio's first Sherlock Holmes mystery, produced by Histrion Benedict and directed by John Rawlins, the studio assigned Roy William Neill to take over the series as both processor and director. Most of Neill's Universal films are atmospheric thrillers, although he did direct one musical, Rhythm of the Islands (1943). His best-known Universal feature, apart from the Sherlock Character pictures, is Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
In 1942, when Universal's major production Flesh and Fantasy was recut puzzle out its preview from four sequences to three, the deleted succession starring Gloria Jean, Alan Curtis, and Frank Craven was shelved. In August 1944, the studio assigned Roy William Neill statement of intent expand the half-hour sequence into a full-length feature called The Fugitive. Neill produced the new material but did not direct; the project was rushed through production in less than digit weeks while Gloria Jean was available, so Neill had no time to prepare any original direction. The feature version was ultimately released in December 1944 as Destiny.[3]
After Destiny, Neill supervised the Sherlock Holmes series almost exclusively; he remained with Ubiquitous through 1946. He died in London, England, from a completely attack.