Albert Edward Sutherland (January 5, 1895 – December 31, 1973) was a British-born

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 actor. Born in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaudeville performer. He was a nephew of both

Blanche Ring Blanche Ring (April 24, 1871 – January 13, 1961) was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals, and Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood motion pictures. She was best known for her rendition of "In the Good ...

and Thomas Meighan, who was married to Frances Ring, another of his mother's sisters. Sutherland acted in 37 known films early in his career, beginning as a Keystone Cop in '' Tillie's Punctured Romance'' (1914), which starred

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

Mabel Normand Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, comedienne, director and screenwriter. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their K ...

, and

Marie Dressler Leila Marie Koerber (November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934), known professionally as Marie Dressler, was a Canadian-born stage- and screen-actress and comedian, popular in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood in early silent film, silent an ...

Career

Sutherland was directed by

in '' A Woman of Paris'' (1923), two years before Sutherland began his directing career with the help of Chaplin. Frequently billed as "Eddie Sutherland," he is best known as a director; he directed more than 50 movies between 1925 and 1956. His breakout film was ''

Behind the Front ''Behind the Front'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Black Eyed Peas released on June 30, 1998, through Interscope Records and will.i.am Music Group. Background Most of the tracks were demos for the '' Grass Roots'' album ...

'' (1926), which made stars of leads

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...

and Raymond Hatton and established Sutherland as a comedic director. He had an especially hard time working with

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...

, whom he disliked ("I'd rather eat a tarantula than work with Laurel again"). On the other hand, he became close friends with the more famously acerbic W.C. Fields, with whom he established a lifelong friendship, though by at least one account they got off to a rocky start. In 1940, he directed '' One Night in the Tropics'', which was the film debut of Abbott and Costello. Other notable films include '' Palmy Days'', '' International House'', '' Too Much Harmony'', '' The Flying Deuces'', '' The Navy Comes Through'', ''

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area i ...

'', and '' Follow the Boys''. Sutherland's last directing assignment was working on the '' Mack & Myer for Hire'' TV comedies with Joey Faye and Mickey Deems for Sandy Howard TV Productions and Trans-Lux Television in 1965.

Personal life

Sutherland was married five times. Among his wives were Marjorie Daw (from 1923 to 1925) and Louise Brooks (from July 1926 to June 1928). He and Brooks met on the set of '' It's the Old Army Game'', which he directed and which also co-starred his aunt

. Brooks and Sutherland did not have a happy marriage; there were numerous reports on both sides of infidelity. He did not have children in any of his marriages. Sutherland lived in and owned the Calypso Apartments in South

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, where he died in 1973.

Filmography

As actor

As director

References

External links

*
Julie Ring, Eddie's mom, in a series of stage portraits

A. Edward Sutherland
at Virtual History {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland. A. Edward 1895 births 1973 deaths 20th-century American male actors Actors from Palm Springs, California Film directors from California American male film actors American male silent film actors British emigrants to the United States American silent film directors