Hamilton MacFadden

{{Infobox person

| name = Hamilton MacFadden

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|4|26}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|1977|1|1|1901|4|26}}

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| occupation = Actor
Writer
Director

| yearsactive = 1930–1945 (film)

| alma_mater = Harvard University

| parents =

| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage |Violet Dunn|1929|1933|end=div.}}|{{marriage |Ruth Channing|1934|1949|end=div.}}|{{marriage |Vada Roberts Ward|1949|}}}}

}}

Hamilton MacFadden (April 26, 1901 – January 1, 1977{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}) was an American actor, screenwriter and film director.

Early years

MacFadden's parents were Rev. Robert A. MacFadden and Edith Hamilton MacFadden. His father died in 1909, leaving his mother to support herself and four children. In 1928, she became the first woman to file papers to run for governor of Massachusetts.{{cite news |title=Candidate Calls Tax Exemption Crying Evil |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24929498/the_boston_globe/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 31, 1928 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=13}}

Career

MacFadden was a 1925 graduate of Harvard University. Soon after graduating, he became producer of the American Theatre Company, which presented plays for 10 weeks in the Boston area. The project was backed by Michael Strange, a writer who made her professional stage debut in the productions.{{cite news |title=Mrs Barrymore to Go on Stage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24928387/the_boston_globe/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 20, 1925 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = October 28, 2018}} {{Open access}} He also served as director of the Community Arts Association in Santa Barbara, California, and the Theatre Guild School of Acting in New York.{{cite news |title=Theatre Notes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24928878/daily_news/ |work=Daily News |date=April 9, 1926 |location=New York, New York City |page=40|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = October 28, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Plays that MacFadden produced on Broadway included Gods of the Lightning and La Gringa. After starting out on Broadway in the 1920s, he moved into filmmaking in Hollywood. During the early 1930s he was a contract director at Fox. McFadden made a number of films for them including several early entries in the Charlie Chan series such as Charlie Chan Carries On (1931).{{cite book |last1=Hanke |first1=Ken |title=Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786486618 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dnq4DgAAQBAJ&q=inauthor%3AKen+Hanke |accessdate=29 October 2018 |language=en}} He was released from his Fox contract following the 1934 merger with Twentieth Century Pictures. Thereafter he mixed occasional directing jobs with a number of small supporting appearances in films.

Later in his career, MacFadden was associate chief of the United States Department of State's international motion picture division.

Personal life

MacFadden married actress Violet Dunn on March 30, 1929, in New York City.{{cite news |title=Hamilton MacFadden Wed: Theatrical Producer Is Married to Violet Dunn, Actress |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/02/archives/hamilton-macfadden-wed-theatrical-producer-is-married-to-violet.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=April 2, 1929 |page=14|url-access=subscription }} She obtained a divorce from him on September 20, 1933.{{cite news |title=Violet Dunn, Actress, Wins Divorce from Her Husband |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-violet-dunn/147152357/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=September 22, 1933 |page=5|via = Newspapers.com}} On September 29, 1934, he married actress Ruth Channing in Santa Barbara, California;{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Henry |title=State Aid's Pink Smear Was Lipstick, Says Wife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-hamilton-macfadden/147153598/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Daily News |date=December 29, 1948 |location=New York, New York City |page=6|via = Newspapers.com }} they were divorced in 1949.{{cite news |title=Boy Wonder Shrinks To $46-a-Week Size |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-hamilton-macfadden/147230212/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Daily News |date=December 10, 1954 |location=New York, New York City |page=M 1|via = Newspapers.com }} He married actress Vada Roberts Ward on October 29, 1949, in Fairfield, Connecticut.{{cite news |title=Vada Ward becomes bride of motion picture official |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record/147226980/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Stockton Record |date=November 4, 1949 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512205431/https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record/147226980/ |archive-date=May 12, 2024 |page=28|via = Newspapers.com }}