Richard Rosson

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Rosson

| image = Richard Rosson 001.jpg

| image_size = 175px

| caption = Rosson, 1916

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|04|04}}

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

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1953|05|31|1893|04|04}}

| death_place = Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.

| othername =

| occupation = Film director, actor

| yearsactive = 1911–1943

| spouse = Vera Sisson (m.1916)

| relatives = Arthur Rosson (brother)
Harold Rosson (brother)
Helene Rosson (sister)

}}

Richard Rosson (April 4, 1893 – May 31, 1953) was an American film director and actor. As an actor, he was known for the nearly 100 films he was in during the silent era. As a director, he directed the logging sequences in the 1936 film Come and Get It.

Career

Rosson's first directorial effort was the 1926 American black and white silent comedy film Fine Manners, initially directed by Lewis Milestone{{cite news

|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/91455/Fine-Manners/details

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104130520/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/91455/Fine-Manners/details

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=4 November 2012

|department=Movies & TV Dept.

|work=The New York Times

|date=2012

|title=Fine Manners (1926)

|accessdate=9 May 2011}} for Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures. After an argument with actress Gloria Swanson, Milestone walked off the set, leaving the film to be completed by Rosson,{{cite book

|last=Joseph R. Millichap

|title=Lewis Milestone

|publisher=Twayne Publishers

|year=1981

|series=Twayne's filmmakers series

|pages=15, 31

|isbn=0-8057-9281-3

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sy8eAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Fine+Manners%22}} who had picked up directorial tricks while working as an assistant director to Allan Dwan.{{cite book

|last=Lawrence J. Quirk

|title=The films of Gloria Swanson

|publisher=Citadel Press

|year=1984

|pages=202

|isbn=0-8065-0874-4

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nn1ZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Richard+Rosson%22}} The success of the film, being Rosson's first directorial effort since he co-directed Her Father's Keeper in 1917 with his brother Arthur Rosson, won him a long-term contract with Famous Players–Lasky.{{cite news

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/362441332.html?dids=362441332:362441332&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+28%2C+1926&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=TONY+WILL+BE+IN+IT&pqatl=google

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106171202/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/362441332.html?dids=362441332:362441332&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+28,+1926&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=TONY+WILL+BE+IN+IT&pqatl=google

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=November 6, 2012

|title=Tony will be in it

|last=Grace Kingsley

|date=September 28, 1926

|work=Los Angeles Times

|accessdate=9 May 2011}}

Personal life

Rosson was the younger brother of director Arthur Rosson; his younger sister Helene became a movie actress, and his younger brother Harold became a well-known director of photography who won the first Academy Award for color cinematography. Richard Rosson died from suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning at his home in Pacific Palisades, California at the age of 60. A year later, Rosson's wife, Vera Sisson, committed suicide by barbiturate overdose.{{cite book |last=Ellenberger |first=Allen R. |date=May 1, 2001 |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland |page= 150 |isbn=978-0786450190}}

On May 1, 1939, Rosson was arrested on a charge of espionage in Vienna, Austria, with his wife and two other British nationals, by the Gestapo, allegedly for filming military hardware. They were held in solitary confinement for 34 days and released.{{cite web|last=Erickson |first=Hal |url=http://allmovie.com/artist/richard-rosson-109037 |title=Richard Rosson > Overview |publisher=AllMovie |date=1953-05-31 |accessdate=2011-04-26}}