Lambert Hillyer (July 8, 1893 – July 5, 1969) was an American

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is best known today for his many western features, his horror films '' The Invisible Ray'' and '' Dracula's Daughter'', and the first ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' serial.

Biography

Lambert Harwood Hillyer was born July 8, 1893, in Tyner, Indiana (his 1946 resumé amended this to South Bend, Indiana). His mother was character actress Lydia Knott. A graduate of Drake College, he worked as a newspaper reporter and short-story writer, then as an actor in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

and stock theater. During World War I he began working in motion pictures with the Mutual company. He began his career as a director with

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

-Artcraft, then First National, Goldwyn, and Fox. He became a specialist in westerns, working on many silent features starring William S. Hart, Buck Jones, Tom Mix, and others. Hillyer expanded into romantic melodramas and crime films in the 1920s. In 1936 he directed two chillers for Universal, the science-fiction film '' The Invisible Ray'' and the cult horror film '' Dracula's Daughter''. He directed many features for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some were major productions like '' The Defense Rests'' (1935) with Jack Holt and Jean Arthur, but most were low-budget action features. In 1940 he was assigned to Columbia's Charles Starrett westerns, including '' The Durango Kid'' (1940), which later inspired a popular series. When Starrett left the studio temporarily, Hillyer was reassigned to the

Bill Elliott William Clyde Elliott Sr. (born October 8, 1955), also known as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville", "Million Dollar Bill", or "Wild Bill" is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Superstar Racing Experienc ...

series, which he directed through 1942. One of Hillyer's most famous credits is the ''

'' serial (1943), which was memorable enough to be re-released in 1954, 1962, and 1965. The 1965 revival inspired the very successful ''

'' TV series. After his tenure with Columbia ended in 1943, Hillyer moved to

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

briefly, where he directed a Tim Holt western and a pair of two-reel comedies with

Leon Errol Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...

. Hillyer then began a six-year association with Monogram Pictures, first with the Sam Katzman crime story '' Smart Guy'' and then a series with the studio's newest cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown. Hillyer also directed Monogram's other western leads Jimmy Wakely and

Whip Wilson Whip Wilson (born Roland Charles Meyers, June 16, 1911 – October 22, 1964) was an American cowboy film actor, film star of the late 1940s and into the 1950s, known for his roles in B movies (Hollywood Golden Age)#Cowboys and dogs, B-Westerns. ...

Television

Like many directors who were accustomed to low budgets and speedy schedules, Lambert Hillyer made a smooth transition to the new field of television. He directed 40 episodes of the syndicated Western '' The Cisco Kid''. Hillyer also directed seven episodes of ''

Highway Patrol A highway patrol is a police unit, detail, or law enforcement agency created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways within a jurisdiction. They are also referred to in many countri ...

'', which starred Broderick Crawford. His last assignment came in 1957, a single episode of the secret-agent show '' The Man Called X'', under the pseudonym Lambert Hill. Hillyer died July 5, 1969, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

.Ancestry.com. ''California, Death Index, 1940–1997'' atabase online Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2000. Retrieved July 23, 2016.

Filmography

Director

Screenwriter

In addition to writing screenplays for many of the films he directed, as noted above, Hillyer wrote or contributed to the screenplays for these motion pictures.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillyer, Lambert 1893 births 1969 deaths American male screenwriters Film directors from Indiana Screenwriters from Indiana Writers from South Bend, Indiana 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters