Andrew V. McLaglen

Andrew Victor McLaglen (July 28, 1920 – August 30, 2014) was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart.

According to one obituary "His career in many ways mirrored that of Ted Post, another inexhaustible director of series television and undemanding movies: reliable rather than stylish, both were nimble soldiers of fortune renowned for bringing work in on time and on budget... Like the best journeymen, he took us on some heroic, enjoyable excursions. "

Early life and career

McLaglen was born in London, the son of British-American actor Victor McLaglen and his wife, Enid Lamont, who had moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s, shortly after his birth. From a film family that included eight uncles and an aunt, McLaglen grew up on movie sets with his parents as well as John Wayne and John Ford. He attended the Black-Foxe Military Institute, the Carl Curtis School, the Cate School in Santa Barbara and the University of Virginia.

He was rated 4-F during his World War II enlistment exam. McLaglen explained "I was as good as in the Army, you know, except when it came to my height. I stood on a scale during the induction physical and the little guy who was taking my height had a stool he had to stand on ...I was six feet seven. ...The little guy didn't know what to do. I'll always remember that he didn't say a word. He just got down and took a little yellow pad, and he wrote "4F" (unfit for military service because of a physical handicap) on it and gave it to me. ...instead of being in the Army, I spent four years chasing ring corrugations for the P38 all over the factory at Lockheed.

Assistant director

When the war ended, he wrote to Republic Pictures asking for a job and was made an assistant on '' Love, Honor and Goodbye'' (1945). He worked for two years as a general clerk at Republic on movies such as '' Dakota'' (1945) then became a second assistant director.

He was an assistant on two Budd Boetticher films, '' Killer Shark'' (1950) and '' Bullfighter and the Lady'' (1951); on the latter he was promoted to first assistant director. He was 2nd AD on John Ford's ''The Quiet Man'' (1952) with his father, and 1st AD on ''Wild Stallion'' (1952), '' Here Come the Marines'' (1952), ''Big Jim McLain'' (1952) with John Wayne, '' Hellgate'' (1952), '' Kansas Pacific'' (1953), and '' Fort Vengeance'' (1953).

He was assistant director on a series of films for John Wayne's company Batjac: '' Plunder of the Sun'' (1953), '' Island in the Sky'' (1954), '' The High and the Mighty'' (1954), '' Track of the Cat'' (1954) and ''Blood Alley'' (1954).

Director

Debut features

After several more assistant director jobs, McLaglen directed his first film, ''Man in the Vault'' (1956), written by Burt Kennedy.

It was followed by '' Gun the Man Down'' (1956), a western B movie with James Arness, whom McLaglen got to know making ''Big Jim McLain''; it also starred Angie Dickinson and Harry Carey Jr. He was going to direct '' Seven Men from Now'' (1956) but the job went to Boetticher; McLaglen was credited as a producer. McLaglen had impressed James Arness who arranged for the director to start helming episodes of ''Gunsmoke''. McLaglen directed '' The Abductors'' (1957) starring his father Victor.

Television and low budget features

In the late 1950s and early 1960s McLaglen focused on television directing, prolifically directing episodes of '' The Lineup'', '' Hotel de Paree'', ''Perry Mason'' (7), ''Gunslinger'' (5), '' Everglades!'', ''Rawhide'' (6), 116 episodes of ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' with Richard Boone, ''The Lieutenant'' (4), '' The Virginian'' (2), ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'', ''Wagon Train'', and 96 episodes of ''Gunsmoke''. He directed his father in episodes of ''Rawhide'' and ''Have Gun will Travel''.

During this time he directed two low budget children's films for Robert Lippert released through 20th Century Fox, ''Freckles'' (1960) and '' The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come'' (1960). In 1960, McLaglen said he was earning between $57,000 and $59,000 a year ().

Focus on feature films

His first big budget feature film as director was ''McLintock!'' (1963) starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. McLaglen later said " that put me in the big time." The movie, his first of five starring Wayne, was a big success and led to McLaglen being offered another studio feature, '' Shenandoah'' (1965), starring James Stewart. It was another success. McLaglen followed it with '' The Rare Breed'' (1966), again with Stewart. That year he said that now he was "supposed to be an outdoor specialist. I'm not knocking it if that's the course fate has allowed I'm to following the course of course but I but personally I don't feel relegated to that kind of picture.Scheuer, Philip K, "Andrew McLaglen: A Home Product," ''Los Angeles Times'' 13 Dec 1966: E19

He directed ''Monkeys, Go Home!'' (1967), a Disney movie; '' The Way West'' (1967) an epic Western with Kirk Douglas; '' The Ballad of Josie'' (1967), a comic Western with Doris Day, made at Universal; the war story '' The Devil's Brigade'' (1968) with William Holden, for producer David Wolper; and the western '' Bandolero!'' starring Stewart, Raquel Welch, and Dean Martin at Fox.

McLaglen then made three films in a row with John Wayne: '' Hellfighters'' (1969), a biopic of Red Adair