Hal Yates (July 26, 1899 – August 1, 1969) was an American screenwriter and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

. He wrote for 96 films between 1924 and 1953. He also directed 88 films between 1926 and 1953. He started his career in entertainment in a vaudeville double-act called 'Yates and Lawley'. Yates first worked at the

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...

where he directed a few early

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo ...

comedies (including the lost Hats Off),and later worked at the RKO studios directing short films featuring

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to po ...

and

Leon Errol Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...

. He was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, and died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

Selected filmography

* '' Hats Off'' (1927) * '' Get 'Em Young'' (1926) * ''

The Nickel-Hopper ''The Nickel-Hopper'' is a 1926 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and featuring Oliver Hardy and Boris Karloff in minor uncredited roles. Cast * Mabel Normand as Paddy, the nickel hopper * Michael Visaroff as Paddy's fat ...

'' (1926) * '' Along Came Auntie'' (1926) * '' Thundering Fleas'' (1926) * '' Wife Tamers'' (1926) * ''

Say It with Babies ''Say It with Babies'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film starring Glenn Tryon and featuring Oliver Hardy. Cast * Glenn Tryon - Casper Crum * Vivien Oakland - Mrs. Crum * Oliver Hardy - Hector, the floorwalker (as Babe Hardy) * Martha S ...

'' (1926) * '' Madame Mystery'' (1926) * '' Wandering Papas'' (1926) * '' What's the World Coming To?'' (1926) * '' Nobody's Baby'' (1937)

External links

* * 1899 births 1969 deaths American film directors American male screenwriters Vaudeville performers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub