Charles Kerr (April 6, 1892 – February 14, 1954) was an American assistant director who worked in both the silent and

sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

eras. While he never was the main individual behind the helm, Kerr was an assistant director on over fifty feature films, and a production manager on several more. He was also involved in the creation of five screenplays, co-authoring three of them. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 6, 1892, he would break into the film industry as an assistant director on the 1925 film '' Three Wise Crooks''. Initially, he would work almost exclusively with the director

James Leo Meehan James Leo Meehan (1891 – 1943) was an American film director and screenwriter.Munden p. 411 He married the daughter of writer Gene Stratton-Porter, and adapted several of his mother-in-law's novels for the screen. He directed ''Campus Sweethea ...

at FBO Pictures, and would continue on at

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 ...

after its creation by merging FBO with the KAO theater chain, under

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. He would remain at RKO until 1937, when he moved over to

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. His career would begin to dwindle during the 1940s, although he would co-author two screenplays during that decade: ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...

'' in 1940 and 1946's ''

Vacation in Reno ''Vacation in Reno'' is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Jack Haley, Anne Jeffreys, Iris Adrian, Wally Brown, Alan Carney, and Morgan Conway. Plot Jack Carroll (portrayed by Jack Haley) and his wife (Anne Je ...

''. During his career he would work with such notable directors as

Gregory La Cava Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including ''My Man Godfrey'' and ''Stage Door'', which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best ...

Lew Landers Lew Landers (born Louis Friedlander, January 2, 1901 – December 16, 1962) was an American independent film and television director. Biography Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, ...

, and

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...

Filmography

(as per AFI's database)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Charles American male screenwriters Filmmakers from Tennessee People from Chattanooga, Tennessee 1892 births 1954 deaths Screenwriters from Tennessee 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters