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Frank Tuttle

{{Short description|American film director (1892–1963)}}

{{for-multi|the set decorator|Frank Tuttle (set decorator)|the Native American artist|Frank Tuttle (artist)|the American mineralogist|O. Frank Tuttle}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Frank Tuttle

| image = The American Venus (1926) - 12.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = On the far right shaking hands with Esther Ralston in 1925

| birth_name = Frank Wright Tuttle

| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|8|6}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|1|6|1892|8|6}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| known_for = This Gun for Hire (1942)
I Stole a Million (1939)
College Holiday (1936)
The Glass Key (1935)
Roman Scandals (1933)
This Is the Night (1932)
Paramount on Parade (1930)
The Untamed Lady (1926)
Kid Boots (1926)

| education = Yale University

| employer = Paramount Pictures

| occupation = Hollywood film director and screenwriter

| children = 3

}}

Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963) was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (The Cradle Buster) to 1959 (Island of Lost Women).

Biography

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote=“Frank Tuttle was a director of some skill who showed occasional flashes of talent, but for the greater part of his career he buried himself in irredeemable studio assignments...a long string of routine films, mainly for Paramount Pictures, leaves the impression that Tuttle was a hack with no personal style and no particular skill at grabbing the more interesting assignments...Tuttle, in fact, never lost his youthful zeal and even after years of racing through projects like Waikiki Wedding (1937) and College Holiday (1936) still maintained hopes of creating something not merely artistic but ‘meaningful,’ rather like the fictional director in Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels (1941) ... But Tuttle had neither the talent nor the clout to achieve his aims [and] he soon returned to the practically anonymous production of studio potboilers.”—Film historian Richard Koszarski in Hollywood Directors: 1914-1940 (1976)Koszarski, 1976 Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 76-9262. p. 350}}

Frank Tuttle was educated at Yale University, where he edited campus humor magazine The Yale Record."Frank Wright Tuttle". The twelfth general catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. New York: Psi Upsilon. May 1917. p. 203.

After graduation, he worked in New York City in the advertising department of the Metropolitan Music Bureau. He later moved to Hollywood, where he became a film director for Paramount. His films are largely in the comedy, in the first part of his career,{{Cite web |title=Guns for Hire: Frank Tuttle vs. Stuart Heisler {{!}} Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival |url=https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/sezione/i-fuorilegge-frank-tuttle-vs-stuart-heisler/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |language=en-US}} and film noir genres, later.{{Cite book |last=Brookes |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgDcDQAAQBAJ&dq=Frank+Tuttle+film+noir&pg=PA64 |title=Film Noir: A Critical Introduction |date=2017-03-09 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-78093-317-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvcJEQAAQBAJ&q=Frank+Tuttle+film+noirsearch&pg=PA502 |title=A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir: The Essential Reference Guide |date=2023-09-21 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-8165-3 |language=en}}

In 1947, his career ground to a temporary halt with the onset of the first of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Communist infiltration of the movie industry. Tuttle had joined the American Communist Party in 1937 in reaction to Hitler's rise to power. Unable to find work in the United States, he moved to France, where he made Gunman in the Streets (1950) starring Simone Signoret and Dane Clark. In 1951, after a decade as a member of the Communist Party, Tuttle gave 36 names to the HUAC.Tuttle, as 'Informer,' Names 36 in Movies NYHT News Service. The Washington Post (1923-1954) [Washington, DC], May 25, 1951: p. 12.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/178119788/|title=The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 25, 1951 · page 8|website=Newspapers.com|date=25 May 1951 |accessdate=July 25, 2017}}

Death

Tuttle died in Hollywood, California, on January 6, 1963, aged 70. He was survived by his three children.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/23/obituaries/frank-day-tuttle-86-radio-producer-dies.html | title=Frank Day Tuttle, 86, Radio Producer, Dies | work=The New York Times | date=23 May 1989 }}

Selected filmography

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Commons category-inline}}
  • {{wikisource author-inline}}
  • {{IMDb name|id=0878338|name=Frank Tuttle}}
  • {{Find a Grave|2516}}

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{{Frank Tuttle}}

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Category:1892 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:Film directors from New York City

Category:Mass media people from Greater Los Angeles

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Film directors from California

Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery