Jacques Tourneur
- Directed for Lewton: Cat People, I Walked with a
Zombie, The Leopard Man
DB: 12 November 1904, Paris, France
DD: 19 December 1977
The son of French director Maurice Tourneur, he edited and directed
several small films in France and America, including second-unit work on
David O. Selznick's
1935 production of A Tale of Two Cities, where he first met
and worked with Val Lewton (Story Editor at the time). Cat People
was Tourneur's first big chance at directing, and he showed such a
flair that RKO promised to promote him to A pictures after he completed
three for Lewton. His A pictures included classics in film noir
(Out of the Past, 1947) and horror (Night
of the Demon (US title: Curse of the Demon), 1957).
-
Mark Robson
- Directed for Lewton: The Seventh Victim, The Ghost
Ship, Youth Runs Wild, Isle of the Dead,
Bedlam
DB: 4 December 1913, Montreal, Canada
DD: 20 June 1978, heart attack
Edited three early Orson Welles films (Citizen Kane,
The Magnificent Ambersons, and Journey into Fear)
at RKO, then was assigned to the Lewton horror unit where he was an
editor under Jacques Tourneur, then a director. Actually, Lewton was
supposed to go to A pictures at the same time as Tourneur, but he wanted
Robson to direct his first A picture for him and the studio wouldn't
trust an untested director with that much money. So Lewton, ever loyal
to his people, turned down the promotion.
-
Robert Wise
- Directed for Lewton: Curse of the Cat People (co-),
Mademoiselle Fifi, The Body Snatcher
DB: 10 September 1914, Winchester, Indiana
AFI OnLine Tribute to Robert Wise (information and pictures)
Essay by Karin Wikoff on Wise's The Haunting
from Horror-Wood e-zine
Also an editor before working with Lewton, he cut such films as
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Devil and Daniel
Webster, Citizen Kane, and The Magnificent
Ambersons (the last two with Mark Robson.) He also has had a
very prestigious career after Lewton, with directing credits including
classics in film noir (The Set-Up, 1949), science fiction
(The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951), horror (The
Haunting, 1963), thriller (The Sand Pebbles,
1966), and musicals (West Side Story, 1961 and The
Sound of Music, 1965), winning Academy Awards for Best Director for
each of the last two.
-
Simone Simon
- Lewton movies: Cat People (Irena Dubrovna), Curse
of the Cat People (Irena), Mademoiselle Fifi
(Elizabeth Rousset)
22k jpg of Simone Simon in Cat
People (screen capture from Tom Axtell)
24k jpg of Simone Simon in Curse of
the Cat People (screen capture from Tom Axtell)
shillPage:
images of Simone Simon (maintained by Steven Hill)
Belles de
Jour 2: images, posters, etc. of Simone Simon
28k jpg publicity still from Josette
(Simone, with Robert Young and Don Ameche)
Born on Apr. 23, 1911 in Bethune, France, she grew up in
Marseilles and Paris, working as a fashion designer and model
before movies. She had a couple stints in American movies,
but was not terribly comfortable despite success, and returned
to French movies each time. This took away from her US
popularity, but led to great French performances in such as
Renoir's La Bete Humaine (1938) along with American films
like All That Money Can Buy (The Devil and Daniel Webster)
(1941). It was as the succubus in the latter movie that
she earned an invitation from Lewton to appear in his first film.
-
Kent Smith
- Lewton movies: Cat People (Oliver Reed), Curse of
the Cat People (Oliver Reed), Youth Runs Wild (Danny)
23k jpg of Kent Smith, Ann Carter, and
Sir Lancelot (l-r) in Curse of the Cat People
(screen capture from Tom Axtell)
Was on Broadway before signing with RKO and waiting nine months before
they cast him in his first movie, Cat People. During that time,
he rode to RKO every day on his bicycle to see if he had been assigned
yet, which is what he was doing when Lewton saw him and decided he'd
be a good fit for the reliable, stolid Oliver. Smith's second wife
(since 1962) was actress Edith Atwater (Meg in The Body Snatcher).
-
Tom Conway
- Lewton movies: Cat People (Dr. Judd), I Walked With
a Zombie, (Paul Holland), The Seventh Victim (Dr. Judd)
15k jpg of Tom Conway in Cat People
(screen capture from Tom Axtell)
37k jpg of Tom Conway, Rita Corday (see below),
and Vince Barnett in The Falcon's Alibi. (scan from a publicity still)
16k jpg of lobby card from The Falcon in Hollywood
(Veda Ann Borg and Conway)
Born Sep. 15, 1904 in St. Petersburg, Russia, brother of
the great actor and noted cad George Sanders. Was a
favorite of Lewton's because they shared a Russian heritage. In
numerous other movies, his best known non-Lewton role was probably
the Falcon, who he played in ten films in the early and middle 1940's.
Interestingly, Sanders himself played the Falcon in three movies before
Conway. In The Falcon's Brother, Sanders' character
was killed, and replaced by his brother Tom, played by... his brother Tom.
A heavy drinker, Conway died at age 63 of cirrhosis of the liver.
-
Elizabeth Russell
- Lewton movies: Cat People (The Cat Woman), The Seventh
Victim (Mimi), Curse of the Cat People (Barbara),
Youth Runs Wild (Mrs. Taylor), Bedlam
(Mistress Sims)
32k jpg of Elizabeth Russell in
Cat People (screen capture from Tom Axtell)
shillPage:
images of Elizabeth Russell (maintained by Steven Hill)
A fashion model from New York when she started in movies, she
is known for making extremely memorable moments out of little
screen time. Due to pressures such as raising a son, Russell was
never able to put all her effort into a movie career, and had
she not retired from movies rather early, her fame might have
taken off.
-
Jean Brooks
- Lewton movies: The Leopard Man (Kiki Walker), The
Seventh Victim (Jacqeline Gibson), Youth Runs Wild (Mary)
22k jpg of Jean Brooks and Kim Hunter
(l-r) in The Seventh Victim
(screen capture from Tom Axtell)
A nightclub performer before starting in movies in the 1930's,
where she was first billed as Jeanne Kelly for several years, then
as Jean Brooks (she was married to writer/director Richard Brooks).
Besides the Lewton films, her best-known work is in some movies of
the Falcon series, with Tom Conway.
-
Isabel Jewell
- Lewton movies: The Leopard Man (Maria), The
Seventh Victim (Frances Fallon)
shillPage:
images of Isabel Jewell (maintained by Steven Hill)
Born July, 1909 in Shoshone, Wyoming. Acted on the stage,
then went to movies where she had some success, then graduated to
character roles. Best-known non-Lewton work included 1937's Lost
Horizon, where she appeared with The Leopard Man's
Margo, and 1935's A Tale of Two Cities which introduced
Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur.
-
Sir Lancelot
- Lewton movies: I Walked with a Zombie (Calypso Singer),
The Ghost Ship (Billy Radd), Curse of the Cat
People (Edward)
40k jpg of Sir Lancelot in I Walked
With a Zombie (image contributed by Steven Hill)
29k jpg of Sir Lancelot's CD
Trinidad is Changing
He was a calypso singer born in Trinidad, but Lancelot Pinard
(his real name) never performed there. His singing success came
in America - in movies, radio, and night-clubs. From a wealthy,
educated background (one that frowned on calypso as a career
choice), he spoke (and sang in) several languages and Caribbean
dialects.
-
Boris Karloff
- Lewton Films: Isle of the Dead (General), The Body
Snatcher (Gray), Bedlam (Master Sims)
17k jpg of Boris Karloff as Cabman
Gray in The Body Snatcher
12k jpg of Boris Karloff
in The Make-up Chair of Frankenstein
Letter from
Sara Karloff about US Postal stamps honoring her father, Lon
Chaney, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr.
An English stage actor (born Nov. 23, 1887 in Dulwich,
England), he came to Hollywood and became one of the
most famous movie monsters ever, in films such as Frankenstein
(1931), The Mummy (1932), The Raven (1935),
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and many others. When
RKO first told Lewton that they had signed Karloff, he was afraid that
Karloff's reputation for flamboyant horror would take over his pictures.
But despite his image, Karloff was in real life a cultured, soft-spoken
gentleman who had many times fought to escape typecasting. He and
Lewton got along very well, each having much admiration for the other's
style. In his career, Karloff was involved in a staggering number
of diverse projects; a personal favorite was narrating the animated
Christmas classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and
a more relevant one was hosting the TV suspense series Boris
Karloff's Thriller, which Edmund Bansak called "the most
Lewtonesque television series in the history of the medium."
![23k jpg of Kent Smith, Ann Carter, and Sir Lancelot (l-r) in Curse of the Cat People](images/curseof.jpg"){kind=link}
