Mark Sandrich (born Mark Rex Goldstein; October 26, 1900 – March 4, 1945) was an American film director, writer, and producer.
Early life
Sandrich was born in New York City on October 26, 1900 into a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family. His sister was
Ruth Harriet Louise.
He was an engineering student at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
when he accidentally fell into the film business. While visiting a friend on a film set, he saw that the director had a problem setting up a shot; Sandrich offered his advice, and it worked. He entered the movie business in the prop department.
Career
Shorts director
Sandrich became a director in 1927, making comedy shorts. His first feature was ''
Runaway Girls'', in 1928. In an exciting time in the film business with the arrival of sound, he briefly returned to shorts. In 1933, he directed the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-winning short ''
So This Is Harris!''.
Feature films
Sandrich returned to directing features with ''
Melody Cruise'' (1933). He followed it with ''
Cupid in the Rough'' (1933) and two starring the team of
Wheeler & Woolsey, ''
Hips, Hips, Hooray!'' (1933) and ''
Cockeyed Cavaliers'' (1934).
Astaire and Rogers
Sandrich did some uncredited second unit work with ''
Flying Down to Rio'' (1933), a musical featuring
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...
and
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
. In 1934, Sandrich was given the job of directing the first proper Astaire–Rogers musical, ''
The Gay Divorcee'', which proved a tremendous success.
The following year, he directed ''
Top Hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...
'' (1935), another Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical.
He continued working with the team on ''
Follow the Fleet
''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, and Astrid Allwyn, wi ...
'' (1936).
After directing
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...
in ''
A Woman Rebels'' (1936) he returned to Astaire and Rogers for ''
Shall We Dance Shall We Dance may refer to:
Films
* ''Shall We Dance'' (1937 film), a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical
* ''Shall We Dance?'' (1996 film), a Japanese film about ballroom dancing
* ''Shall We Dance?'' (2004 film), an American remake of the ...
'' (1937), and ''
Carefree'' (1938).
Paramount
In 1939, Sandrich left
RKO for
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS.
**Paramount Picture ...
, which offered him a chance to be not only a director, but a producer as well.
Sandrich's first film for Paramount was just as director: the
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
vehicle ''
Man About Town'' (1939). He then turned producer as well as director and made two more with Benny, ''
Buck Benny Rides Again'' (1940) and ''
Love Thy Neighbor'' (1940). He also did the romantic comedy ''
Skylark'' (1941), starring
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, born Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ show-shwan); September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway theater, Broadway productions dur ...
and
Ray Milland
Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which wo ...
.
While all of these films made profits for the studio, ''
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...
'' (1942), starring
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...
and
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
, with music by
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
, is most remembered today. ''Holiday Inn'' introduced the song "
White Christmas" performed by Crosby. "White Christmas" remains the best-selling single of all time.
Sandrich also produced and directed a dramatic war film, ''
So Proudly We Hail!'' , a 1943 box-office success that starred Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake. It was extremely popular and featured a pair of performers –
Adrian Booth (billed as "Lorna Gray" in this picture) and
George Reeves – whom Sandrich had intended to bring to stardom after the war. Sandrich's last completed films also were war-related -- ''
I Love a Soldier'' (1944) and ''
Here Come the Waves'' (1944), both with
Sonny Tufts.
Personal life and death
His sons, Mark Sandrich Jr. and
Jay Sandrich, went on to careers as directors in film and television.
Mark Sandrich supported
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and ...
in the
1944 United States presidential election
United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. The election took place during World War II which ended the following year. The History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticke ...
.
In 1945, he was in pre-production on a follow-up to ''Holiday Inn'' called ''
Blue Skies'', starring Bing Crosby and featuring Irving Berlin's music. At the same time, Sandrich was serving as president of the
Directors Guild.
Insisting that he could complete all of his assignments, and feeling pressure to be an involved and loving family man, Sandrich died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 44.
"Mark Sandrich dies suddenly"
(March 5, 1945). ''Los Angeles Times''. At the time of his death, Sandrich was considered to be one of the most trusted and influential directors in Hollywood. His interment was at Home of Peace Cemetery.
Select credits
Shorts
*''Jerry the Giant'' (1926) – director
*''Napoleon, Jr.'' (1926) – director
*''Big Business'' (1926) – director
*''First Prize'' (1927) – director
*''Hot Soup'' (1927) – director
*''Hold That Bear'' (1927) – director
*''Careless Hubby'' (1927) – director
*''A Midsummer Night's Steam'' (1927) – director
*''Night Owls'' (1927) – director
*''The Movie Hound'' (1927) – director
*''Brave Cowards'' (1927) – director
*''Monty of the Mounted'' (1927) – director
*''Hold Fast'' (1927) – director
*''Shooting Wild'' (1927) – director
*''Some Scout'' (1927) – director
*''Hello Sailor'' (1927) – director
*''High Strung'' (1928) – director
*''Sword Points'' (1928) – director
*''A Lady Lion'' (1928) – director
*''A Cow's Husband'' (1928) – director
*''Runaway Girls'' (1928) – director
*''Two Gun Ginsberg'' (1929) – director
*''Gunboat Ginsberg'' (1930) – writer, director
*''General Ginsberg'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Hot Bridge'' (1930) – director
*''Barnum Was Wrong'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Off to Peoria'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Who's Got the Body?'' (1930) – writer, director
*''A Peep on the Deep'' (1930) – director
*''Society Goes Spaghetti'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Razored in Old Kentucky'' (1930) – director
*''Moonlight and Monkey Business'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Aunt's in the Pants'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Trader Ginsberg'' (1930) – writer, director
*''Talking Turkey'' (1931) – writer, director
*''The Wife o' Riley'' (1931) – writer, director
*''The County Seat'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Trouble from Abroad'' (1931) – writer, director
*''The Way of All Fish'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Cowslips'' (1931) – writer, director
*''False Roomers'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Strife of the Party'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Scratch-As-Catch-Can'' (1931) – writer, director
*''A Melon-Drama'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Sightseeing in New York'' (1931) – writer, director
*''Many a Sip'' (1931) – writer, director
*''A Slip at the Switch'' (1932) – director
*''Ex-Rooster'' (1932) – writer, director
*''The Millionaire Cat'' (1932) – director
*''The Iceman's Ball'' (1932) – writer, director
*''Jitters the Butler'' (1932) – writer, director
*''Thru Thin and Thicket, or Who's Zoo in Africa'' (1933) – director
*''Private Wives'' (1933) – writer, director
*''Hokus Focus'' (1933) – writer, director
*''The Druggist's Dilemma'' (1933) – writer, director
*''The Gay Nighties'' (1933) – writer, director
*''So This Is Harris!'' (1933) – writer, director
Feature films
* '' Runaway Girls'' (1928) – director
* '' The Talk of Hollywood'' (1929) – writer, director
* '' Hold 'Em Jail'' (1932) – writer
* '' Scratch-As-Catch-Can'' (1932) – director
* '' Melody Cruise'' (1933) – writer, director
* '' So This Is Harris'' (1933) – director
* '' Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men'' (1933) – director
* '' Hips, Hips, Hooray!'' (1934) – director
* '' The Gay Divorcee'' (1934) – director
* ''Top Hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...
'' (1935) – director
* ''Follow the Fleet
''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, and Astrid Allwyn, wi ...
'' (1936) – director
* '' A Woman Rebels'' (1936) – director
* ''Shall We Dance Shall We Dance may refer to:
Films
* ''Shall We Dance'' (1937 film), a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical
* ''Shall We Dance?'' (1996 film), a Japanese film about ballroom dancing
* ''Shall We Dance?'' (2004 film), an American remake of the ...
'' (1937) – director
* '' Carefree'' (1938) – director
* '' Man About Town'' (1939) – director
* '' Buck Benny Rides Again'' (1940) – director, producer
* '' Love Thy Neighbor'' (1940) – director, producer
* '' Skylark'' (1941) – director, producer
* ''Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...
'' (1942) – director, producer
* '' So Proudly We Hail!'' (1943) – director, producer
* '' I Love a Soldier'' (1944) – director, producer
* '' Here Come the Waves'' (1944) – director, producer
References
External links
*
*
Obituary
at ''Variety''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandrich, Mark
1900 births
1945 deaths
American film producers
Jewish American film people
20th-century American Jews
Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery
Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
Presidents of the Directors Guild of America
20th-century American businesspeople
Film directors from New York City