Edward Killy

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Edward Killy January 26 1903 July 2 1981 was an American director assistant director and production manager in films and television He was one of the few individuals to be nominated for the shortlived Academy Award for Best Assistant Director During his 30year career he worked on over 75 films and television shows Killy was born on January 26 1903 in Connecticut He entered the film industry as an assistant director at RKO Pictures his first film being the 1931 musical comedy Caught Plastered directed by William Seiter and starring the comedy duo of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey Over the next five years he assisted on over a dozen films many of them notable films In 1932 he was one of two assistants to George Cukor on the drama What Price Hollywood starring Constance Bennett and Lowell Sherman In 1933 he was one of several assistants to Dorothy Arzner on the melodrama Christopher Strong which featured Katharine Hepburn in her first starring role Hed work with Hepburn on two more films in 1933 Morning Glory one of three assisting Lowell Sherman and one of two assisting Cukor on the classic Little Women That year he also assisted Seiter again on another Wheeler Woolsey comedy Diplomaniacs as well as being one of three assistants to Thornton Freeland on the RKO musical Flying Down to Rio which featured the first onscreen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers The following year Killy assisted Philip Moeller on the classic drama The Age of Innocence the first talking version of the novel starring Irene Dunne and John Boles He would also work with Hepburn again being one of three assistants to Richard Wallace on The Little Minister It was during the filming of this movie when Killy gained notoriety by telling off Hepburn She was acting up on set one day and refusing to take her place on set so he told her Get on the set before youre sent back to New York to do another Lake However he soon became one of her favorite assistant directors In 1935 Killy became part of a concerted effort on RKOs part to build a cadre of young directors His first assignment as the main man behind the camera was as codirector with William Hamilton on the 1935 film Freckles based on the 1904 novel of the same name The two would again pair up to direct the 1935 version of Seven Keys to Baldpate starring Gene Raymond and Margaret Callahan The pair would codirect two more films before Killy was given his first solo directing assignment 1936s Second Wife starring Gertrude Michael and Walter Abel Over the next ten years hed direct another 20 films mostly B movie Westerns and being the chief director for Tim Holts Westerns Some of the oater collaborations between Killy and Holt include The Fargo Kid 1940 Wagon Train 1940 Along the Rio Grande 1941 and Land of the Open Range 1942 In the mid1940s a young actor Robert Mitchum was signed to a sevenyear contract with RKO with the intent of making BWesterns based on Zane Grey novels Killy was assigned the first of these films 1944s Nevada He would also direct Mitchum in another film adaptation of a Grey novel 1945s West of the Pecos which was also Killys last credit as the director of a film