John Waters (October 31, 1893 – May 5, 1965) was an American
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
,
second unit director
Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...
and, initially, an
assistant director
The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...
. His career began in the early days of
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
and culminated in two consecutive
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominations in the newly instituted (but short-lived) category of
Best Assistant Director The Academy Award for Best Assistant Director was awarded from 1933 through 1937. In the first year of this award, it referred to no specific film.
* 1933:
** Charles Barton (Paramount) - winner
** Scott Beal (Universal) - winner
**Charles Dorian ...
. He won on his second nomination, for
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
's ''
Viva Villa!
''Viva Villa!'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book ''Viva Villa!'' by Edgecumb Pinchon an ...
'', and received a certificate of merit; the certificate was replaced with an Oscar statuette in 1965.
Assistant director and director during 1910s and 1920s
A native of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, John Waters entered the motion picture industry in its formative years. Only a few of his assistant director credits from the 1910s have been recorded, with vehicles for
Carlyle Blackwell
Carlyle Blackwell (January 20, 1884 – June 17, 1955) was an American silent film actor, director and producer.
Early years
Blackwell was born in Troy, Pennsylvania. He studied at Cornell University before J. Stewart Blackton discovered him an ...
(''The Shadow of a Doubt'', 1916) and
Harold Lockwood
Harold A. Lockwood (April 12, 1887 – October 19, 1918) was an American silent film actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most popular matinee idols of the early film period during the 1910s.
Early life and career
Born in Brookl ...
(''The Avenging Trail'', 1917) listed among the earliest titles. During this initial phase of his career, he was billed on at least two occasions as John S. Waters and on at least one occasion as Johnnie Waters.
In 1926 he was offered a position as director with
Famous Players–Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...
and, over a two-year period, turned out ten films, five of which (''
Born to the West'', ''
Forlorn River'', ''
Man of the Forest'', ''
The Mysterious Rider'' and ''
The Vanishing Pioneer
''The Vanishing Pioneer'' is a 1928 American silent Western film directed by John Waters and starring Jack Holt, Sally Blane and William Powell. Holt's son, Tim makes his screen debut in this film The film is now lost. It is based on a story ...
'') were based on the series of popular
western fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...
novels by
Zane Grey
Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...
and starred Famous Players' reigning western hero,
Jack Holt. There were two additional Zane Grey adaptations, ''
Drums of the Desert'' (starring
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
) and ''
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
'', while an eighth western, 1927's ''
Arizona Bound'', Waters' sole sagebrush saga not based on Zane Grey, starred Gary Cooper in his first leading role. Although he did not direct Cooper's second starring western, ''
The Last Outlaw'', the new star's third lead western, ''Nevada'', was once again assigned to Waters, along with another Cooper vehicle, the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
epic, ''
Beau Sabreur
''Beau Sabreur'' is a 1928 American silent romantic adventure film directed by John Waters and starring Gary Cooper and Evelyn Brent. Based on the 1926 novel ''Beau Sabreur'' by P. C. Wren, who also wrote the 1924 novel ''Beau Geste''. Produced ...
'', a sequel to Famous Players' biggest hit of 1926, ''
Beau Geste
''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a rel ...
'', which starred
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the United States and having a successful Hollywood film career. He wa ...
.
Rounding out Waters' ten assignments was a single comedy, the
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathe ...
–
Chester Conklin
Chester Cooper Conklin (January 11, 1886 – October 11, 1971) was an early American film comedian who started at Keystone Studios as one of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Cops, often paired with Mack Swain. He appeared in a series of films with ...
vehicle, ''
Two Flaming Youths
''Two Flaming Youths'' is a lost 1927 American silent comedy film directed by John Waters and written by John W. Conway, Donald Davis, Percy Heath, and Herman J. Mankiewicz. The film stars W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin, Mary Brian, Jack Luden ...
'', which he also produced. In 1928, a few months after Famous Players–Lasky's September 1927 reorganization under the name
Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...
, Waters left the studio to begin a lengthy sojourn with MGM, where his initial directorial assignments consisted of two
Tim McCoy
Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy (April 10, 1891 – January 29, 1978) was an American actor, military officer, and expert on American Indian life. McCoy is most noted for his roles in B-grade Western films. As a popular cowboy film star, he ap ...
series westerns, ''
The Overland Telegraph'' and ''
Sioux Blood
''Sioux Blood'' is a 1929 American silent Western film directed by John Waters. It stars Western action star Tim McCoy. A print is preserved at the George Eastman House in New York.
Cast
* Tim McCoy as Flood
* Robert Frazer as Lone Eagle
* E ...
'' which, when released in March and April 1929, respectively, were among MGM's last silent features.
Assistant director at MGM
At this point, as the
talkie revolution transformed Hollywood, Waters, now an MGM contractee, returned to his former profession as assistant director, an industry job title which, during a brief period covering five Academy Award cycles (1932–33 to 1937), became eligible for an Oscar. On March 16, 1934, at the first Awards ceremony featuring the new category, John Waters was among eighteen nominees who were singled out for the totality of their achievement at the studio which employed them, rather than for a single feature. Each studio had two or three nominees, with
Charles Dorian
Charles Dorian (June 27, 1891 – October 21, 1942) was an American assistant director and film actor. He appeared in 26 films between 1915 and 1920. He won an Academy Award in 1933 for Best Assistant Director. He was born in Santa Monica, C ...
and
Orville O. Dull
Orville Oscar Dull (April 25, 1888 – December 29, 1978) was an American producer, director, production manager and assistant director, variously credited as Orville Dull, Orville O. Dull, O.O. Dull, or Bunny Dull.
Dull began his career a ...
rounding out, along with Waters, the MGM contingent. Ultimately, there were seven winners that year, one of them Dorian.
The following year, after considerable streamlining, the nominations were pared down to three and categorized according to each nominee's work on a specific film. Only John Waters, among the previous year's eighteen nominees, was renominated, as his contribution to
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in ''Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in ''Grand Hotel'' (193 ...
's portrayal of Mexican revolutionary leader
won against two
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...
–
Warren William
Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry ...
titles represented by assistant directors
Scott Beal (''
Imitation of Life'') and
Cullen Tate
Cullen Tate (March 10, 1886 – October 12, 1947) was an American assistant director as well as a director. He was nominated for an Oscar in the dead category of Best Assistant Director at the 1934 Academy Awards for the film ''Cleopatra''. He ...
(''
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
'').
Although known in the industry, Waters, along with other studio-employed assistant directors and second unit directors, did not have his name listed in the credits of ''Viva Villa!'' as well a great majority of the other titles for which he fulfilled those functions. Other than a 1935 one-reel
Pete Smith Specialty, ''Donkey Baseball'', his sole directorial assignment in the sound era was ''
The Mighty McGurk
''The Mighty McGurk'' is a 1947 American sports, drama, action, adventure, melodrama film starring Wallace Beery as a boozing ex-boxer brawling as a bouncer in a Bowery saloon.
Plot
Roy "Slag" McGurk (Wallace Beery), the former heavyweight boxing ...
'', MGM's 1946 vehicle for his old ''
Viva Villa!
''Viva Villa!'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book ''Viva Villa!'' by Edgecumb Pinchon an ...
'' compatriot, Wallace Beery.
Twelve years later, after working as second unit director on two big-budget 1958 releases,
Warner
Warner can refer to:
People
* Warner (writer)
* Warner (given name)
* Warner (surname)
Fictional characters
* Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs''
* Aaron Warner, a character in ''Shatter Me s ...
's ''
The Deep Six
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' and the independently produced ''
The Big Country
''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed i ...
'', John Waters was admitted as a patient to the
Motion Picture Country House and Hospital
The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as temp ...
in the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
suburb of
Woodland Hills, where he died seven years later at the age of 71. ''The New York Times May 8, 1965 obituary, under the heading "John S. Waters", described him as "a pioneer motion picture director" who "was 70 years old", and stated that "his widow, Frances, survives".
John S. Waters (''The New York Times'', May 8, 1965)
/ref>
Filmography
Silent films
* '' Down Home'' (1920)
* ''The Enchanted Hill
''The Enchanted Hill'' is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by Irvin Willat and written by James Shelley Hamilton and Peter B. Kyne. The film stars Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, Noah Beery, Sr., Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, George Bancr ...
'' (1926)
* '' Born to the West'' (1926)
* '' Forlorn River'' (1926)
* '' Man of the Forest'' (1926)
* '' The Mysterious Rider'' (1927)
* '' Drums of the Desert'' (1927)
* ''The Vanishing Pioneer
''The Vanishing Pioneer'' is a 1928 American silent Western film directed by John Waters and starring Jack Holt, Sally Blane and William Powell. Holt's son, Tim makes his screen debut in this film The film is now lost. It is based on a story ...
'' (1928)
* '' Arizona Bound'' (1927)
* ''Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
'' (1927)
* ''Two Flaming Youths
''Two Flaming Youths'' is a lost 1927 American silent comedy film directed by John Waters and written by John W. Conway, Donald Davis, Percy Heath, and Herman J. Mankiewicz. The film stars W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin, Mary Brian, Jack Luden ...
'' (1927)
* ''Beau Sabreur
''Beau Sabreur'' is a 1928 American silent romantic adventure film directed by John Waters and starring Gary Cooper and Evelyn Brent. Based on the 1926 novel ''Beau Sabreur'' by P. C. Wren, who also wrote the 1924 novel ''Beau Geste''. Produced ...
'' (1928)
* '' The Overland Telegraph'' (1929)
* ''Sioux Blood
''Sioux Blood'' is a 1929 American silent Western film directed by John Waters. It stars Western action star Tim McCoy. A print is preserved at the George Eastman House in New York.
Cast
* Tim McCoy as Flood
* Robert Frazer as Lone Eagle
* E ...
'' (1929)
Sound films
* '' Just a Gigolo'' (1931)
* ''Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin (French pronunciation: ʁsɛn lypɛ̃ is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazi ...
'' (1932)''
* ''Huddle
In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulation ...
'' (1932)
* ''Divorce in the Family
''Divorce in the Family'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Charles Reisner and written by Delmer Daves. The film stars Jackie Cooper, Conrad Nagel, Lewis Stone, Lois Wilson and Jean Parker. It was released on August 27, 1932, ...
'' (1932)
* ''The Mask of Fu Manchu
''The Mask of Fu Manchu'' (1932) is an American pre-Code adventure film directed by Charles Brabin. Written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf and John Willard, it was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Sax Rohmer (the sixth in the serie ...
'' (1932)
* ''Hell Below
''Hell Below'' (aka ''Pigboats'') is a 1933 American MGM pre-Code film set in the Adriatic Sea during World War I about submarine warfare based on Commander Edward Ellsberg's novel ''Pigboats''. The film stars Robert Montgomery, Walter Huston, ...
'' (1933)
* '' The Barbarian'' (1933)
* '' Broadway to Hollywood'' (1933)
* ''Viva Villa!
''Viva Villa!'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book ''Viva Villa!'' by Edgecumb Pinchon an ...
'' (1934) 1935 Academy Award, Best Assistant Director
* ''Death on the Diamond
''Death on the Diamond'' is a 1934 comedy-mystery film starring Robert Young. It was based on the novel ''Death on the Diamond: A Baseball Mystery Story'' by Cortland Fitzsimmons, directed by Edward Sedgwick and produced and released by Metro-G ...
'' (1934)
* ''David Copperfield
''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...
'' (1935)
* '' Donkey Baseball'' (1935)
* '' Let Freedom Ring'' (1939)
* '' 6,000 Enemies'' (1939)
* ''Ninotchka
''Ninotchka'' is a 1939 American romantic comedy film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch and starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, based o ...
'' (1939)
* ''Boom Town
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...
'' (1940)
* ''The Mighty McGurk
''The Mighty McGurk'' is a 1947 American sports, drama, action, adventure, melodrama film starring Wallace Beery as a boozing ex-boxer brawling as a bouncer in a Bowery saloon.
Plot
Roy "Slag" McGurk (Wallace Beery), the former heavyweight boxing ...
'' (1947)
* ''The Deep Six
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' (1958)
* ''The Big Country
''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed i ...
'' (1958)
References
External links
*
John Waters
at the TCM Movie Database
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
*
John Waters at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences list of nominees for 1932–33
John Waters at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences list of winners for 1934
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, John S.
Best Assistant Director Academy Award winners
Film directors from New York City
1893 births
1965 deaths
Silent film directors
Assistant directors