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Bryan Foy (December 8, 1896 – April 20, 1977) was an American
film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...
and director. He produced more than 200 films between 1924 and 1963. He also directed 41 films between 1923 and 1934. He headed the
B picture A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
unit at Warner Bros. where he was known as "the keeper of the B's".


Biography

He was born in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, on December 8, 1896. He was the eldest son of the vaudeville star Eddie Foy and appeared with his father in the
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...
act "Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys." The act broke up when Bryan Foy left to join the U.S. Army in World War I in 1918, after which his remaining siblings continued performing with their father under the title, "Eddie Foy and the Younger Foys", through 1923, when their father retired. He was also a songwriter, and by 1916 had several published songs, including "My Honolulu Girl". Foy led Warners B picture unit until 1942 when the studio ended their second features. He was recruited
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...
where he produced the acclaimed war movie '' Guadalcanal Diary'' in 1943. Following the war Foy entered motion picture production with a series of
short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s for
Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
including a series of ''
The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...
'' with Foy writing and directing several of the two reelers. He remained with Fox until 1947 where he produced for Eagle-Lion Films with one of his assistant producers being famed mobster
Johnny Rosselli John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976), sometimes spelled Rosselli, was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. In the ea ...
. He was rehired by Warner Bros in 1950. From 1954 Foy produced films for
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
. He returned again to Warners in 1962 for his final two films. He died in Los Angeles from a heart attack on April 20, 1977. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.


Selected filmography

* ''
The Swell Head ''The Swell Head'' (also known as ''The Swelled Head'' and ''Eddie Foy, Jr., with Bessie Love in The Swelled Head'') is a 1928 American romantic musical short starring Eddie Foy Jr. and Bessie Love, directed by Foy's brother Bryan. ''Variety'' ...
'' (1928) * '' Lights of New York'' (1928) * '' The Home Towners'' (1928) * '' Queen of the Night Clubs'' (1929) * '' The Royal Box'' (1929) * '' Stout Hearts and Willing Hands'' (1931) * '' The Unwelcome Stranger'' (1935) * '' Swellhead'' (1935) * '' Road Gang'' (1936) * ''
Love Is on the Air ''Love is on the Air'' is a 1937 American film directed by Nick Grinde, and starring Ronald Reagan (in his film debut), June Travis, Eddie Acuff, Robert Barrat, Raymond Hatton and Willard Parker. It was the first of three remakes of the 1933 ...
'' (1937) * '' Marry the Girl'' (1937) * '' Smart Blonde'' (1937) (
Torchy Blaine Torchy Blane is a fictional female reporter, the main character of nine films produced by Warner Bros. between 1937 and 1939. The Torchy Blane series were popular second features during the later 1930s and were mixtures of mystery, action, adven ...
film series} * '' West of Shanghai'' (1937) * '' The Invisible Menace'' (1938) * '' Girls on Probation'' (1938) * '' Nancy Drew... Detective'' (1938) (
Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
film series) * '' Comet Over Broadway'' (1938) * ''
Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne (French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...
'' (1939) * '' Hell's Kitchen'' (1939) * '' On Dress Parade'' (1939) * '' South of Suez'' (1940) * '' Law of the Tropics'' (1941) * '' I Was Framed'' (1941) * '' Wild Bill Hickok Rides'' (1942) * '' The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe'' (1942) * '' Little Tokyo, U.S.A.'' (1942) * '' Berlin Correspondent'' (1942) * '' The Undying Monster'' (1942) * '' Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas'' (1943) * '' Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943) * '' Doll Face'' (1945) * '' Adventures of Casanova'' (1948) * '' Trapped'' (1949) * '' The Great Jewel Robber'' (1950) * ''
Breakthrough Breakthrough or break through may refer to: Arts Books * ''Break Through'' (book), a 2007 book about environmentalism by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger * ''Break Through'' (play), a 2011 episodic play portraying scenes from LGBT life * ...
'' (1950) * ''
I Was a Communist for the FBI ''I Was a Communist for the FBI'' is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Lovejoy. The film was produced by Bryan Foy who was head of Warners B picture unit until 1942. The film was based on a serie ...
'' (1951) * '' The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima'' (1952) * '' House of Wax'' (1953) * '' The Mad Magician'' (1954) * '' House of Women'' (1962) * '' PT-109'' (1963)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foy, Bryan 1896 births 1977 deaths American film directors Film producers from Illinois American people of Irish descent Male actors from Chicago 20th-century American male actors Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)