Felix Ellison Feist (; February 28, 1910 – September 2, 1965) was an American film and television director and writer born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is probably best remembered for '' Deluge'' (1933), for writing and directing the

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

s '' The Devil Thumbs a Ride'' (1947) and '' The Threat'' (1949), and for helming the second screen version of the

Curt Siodmak Curt Siodmak (August 10, 1902 – September 2, 2000) was a German-American novelist and screenwriter. He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as '' The Wolf Man'' and '' Donovan's Brain'' (the l ...

sci-fi tale ''

Donovan's Brain ''Donovan's Brain'' is a 1942 science fiction novel by American writer Curt Siodmak. The novel was an instant success and has been adapted to film three times. Since then the book has become something of a cult classic, with fans including Ste ...

'' (1953), which starred Nancy Davis before she became known as

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in N ...

. He directed

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

and Deanna Durbin in their first significant screen appearances, in the 1936 short film ''

Every Sunday ''Every Sunday'' (sometimes incorrectly listed as ''Every Sunday Afternoon'' or ''Opera vs. Jazz'') is a 1936 American musical short film about two adolescent girls and their efforts to save a public concert series, which was being threatened by ...

''.

Life

Feist was the son of a

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

sales executive, Felix F. Feist (1884–1936), and nephew of a publishing house magnate,

Leo Feist Leopold Feist (January 3, 1869, New York City – June 21, 1930, Mount Vernon, New York), in 1897 founded and ran a music publishing firm bearing his name. In the 1920s, at the height of the golden age of popular music, his firm was among the seve ...

. He was educated at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In the late 1920s he found work as a newsreel cameraman, and he was on staff at MGM from 1929 to 1932, directing screen tests and producing one-reel travelogues. In 1931, Feist married Dorothy Hart Jacobs. The two met in New York, NY, and traveled to Los Angeles together where Feist began his career with MGM. They had two daughters, Marjory and Jacqueline Ellison. His second marriage was to Lisa Howard, a pioneering female journalist and television news anchor, who briefly had an acting career. She appeared in a few of his films such as ''

The Man Who Cheated Himself ''The Man Who Cheated Himself'' is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt and John Dall. Plot Wealthy socialite Lois Frazer, divorcing her fortune-hunter husband, Howard, finds a gun he ha ...

'', ''

Guilty of Treason ''Guilty of Treason'' is a 1950 American drama film directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Charles Bickford, Bonita Granville and Paul Kelly. Also known by the alternative title ''Treason'', it is an anti-communist and anti-Soviet film about th ...

'', and ''

''. They had a daughter, Fritzi. In 1955, he married Lulu Estelle "Barbara" Allen, whose son,

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

, he adopted. Raymond became a fantasy author. Feist died of cancer on September 2, 1965, at the age of 55. In his obituary, it was reported that he had three sons and three daughters.

Filmography

I Credited for the lyrics of "Lo-Lo"
II Credited for the screenplay
III Credited as a composer
IV Credited as a writer
V Uncredited
VI Credited for the story
VII Credited for the original screenplay

Television

References

External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Felix E. American film directors American television directors American male screenwriters 1910 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters