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Rowland V. Lee

October 23, 2023

Rowland Vance Lee (September 6, 1891 – December 21, 1975) was an American film director, actor, writer, and producer.

Rowland V. Lee
Lee in 1928
Born
Rowland Vance Lee

(1891-09-06)September 6, 1891
Findlay, Ohio, U.S.
DiedDecember 21, 1975(1975-12-21) (aged 84)
Palm Desert, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, director, producer
RelativesRobert N. Lee (brother)[1]

Biography Edit

Early life Edit

Born in Findlay, Ohio, Lee was the son of a suffragette who founded a newspaper.[2] He studied at Columbia University and served in the infantry during World War I.[3]

Acting career Edit

Lee had early appearances in Wild Winship's Widow (1917), Time Locks and Diamonds (1917), The Mother Instinct (1917), Polly Ann (1917), The Stainless Barrier (1917), The Maternal Spark (1917) and They're Off (1918).

He appeared in the films The Woman in the Suitcase, Water, Water, Everywhere, His Own Law (supporting Hobart Bosworth), and Her Husband's Friend (all 1920).

Directing Edit

Change of profession Edit

Thomas H. Ince suggested Lee make a choice between acting and directing. Lee moved into directing starting with A Thousand to One (1920), Cupid's Brand (1921), and The Cup of Life (1921).[3] He directed two films for former co-star Hobart Bosworth, Blind Hearts and The Sea Lion (both 1921).[citation needed]

Lee made What Ho, the Cook (1921), Money to Burn (1922), The Men of Zanzibar (1922), His Back Against the Wall (1922), A Self-Made Man (1922), Dust Flower (1922), and Mixed Faces (1922).

Fox Edit

Lee went to Fox where he directed Shirley of the Circus (1923). He directed and scripted a 1923 adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel Alice Adams, which propelled him into the big time. He followed it with Desire (1923) at Metro.[4] He fell ill during the making of Desire.[5]

Back at Fox, Lee directed Gentle Julia (1923), another Tarkington adaptation. After Gentle Julia, Lee spent several months studying filmmaking in Europe, a practice he would continue for the next decade.[6]

Lee did You Can't Get Away with It (1923), In Love with Love (1924) with Marguerite De La Motte, and an expensive adaptation of The Man Without a Country (1925).[6][7]

Other credits included Havoc (1925), The Outsider (1926) (with Walter Pidgeon), and The Silver Treasure (1927), based on Nostromo by Joseph Conrad.[8] He also directed The Whirlwind of Youth (1927).[9]

Paramount Edit

Lee went to Paramount in 1926 where he directed Pola Negri in Barbed Wire (1927) and The Secret Hour (1928).[10] Doomsday (1928) starred Florence Vidor and Gary Cooper.[11] He was reunited with Negri for Three Sinners (1928) and Loves of an Actress (1928) then did The First Kiss (1928) with Cooper and Fay Wray.[12]

In 1929, he directed The Wolf of Wall Street featuring George Bancroft.[13] He followed it with A Dangerous Woman (1929) starring Olga Baclanova, then Lee made the first sound Fu Manchu film, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929).[14] He spent three months touring Europe in 1929.[15]

Lee was one of many directors who contributed to the all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930). The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) was a sequel to The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu. Lee then made Ladies Love Brutes (1930) and Derelict (1930) with Bancroft, and A Man from Wyoming (1930), with Cooper.

England Edit

Lee went to Warners to make The Ruling Voice (1931) with Walter Huston. He based himself in England for the next two years where he wrote an English version script of Captain Craddock (1931), did The Guilty Generation (1931) at Columbia and That Night in London (1931) for Paramount in England; the latter starred Robert Donat.[16]

Back at Fox, Lee directed Zoo in Budapest (1933), I Am Suzanne (1933) and Gambling (1934); the latter starred George M. Cohan.[17][18]

Edward Small Edit

Edward Small hired Lee to write and direct an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) for United Artists starring Donat; it was a huge success and ushered in a cycle of swashbuckling films.

Fox had merged to become 20th Century-Fox whose production head Darryl F. Zanuck hired Lee to direct one of the studio's first films, the biopic Cardinal Richelieu (1935) starring George Arliss.[19]

Lee received an offer from RKO to write and direct another swashbuckler, The Three Musketeers (1935). For United Artists he did One Rainy Afternoon (1936) and the English-shot Agatha Christie adaptation, Love from a Stranger (1937).

Back in Hollywood, Lee was reunited with Small for The Toast of New York (1937), a biopic that was a notorious flop. It was made at RKO who also financed Lee's next film, Mother Carey's Chickens (1938).

Universal Edit

Lee signed a contract at Universal, where he directed Service de Luxe (1938). He had a big success with Son of Frankenstein (1939) starring Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. Lee followed it with The Sun Never Sets (1939) with Rathbone and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Tower of London (1939) with Rathbone and Karloff.

Later films Edit

Lee made another swashbuckler for Small, The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). He returned to RKO to do Powder Town (1942), then made a film for another independent producer, Benedict Bogeaus, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944). Bogeaus liked Lee's work and used him on the swashbuckler Captain Kidd (1945). Lee announced he would then made a film about Robespierre[20] but he ended up retiring in 1945.

The Rowland V. Lee Ranch and later life Edit

Lee focused on running his ranch in the San Fernando Valley which he had bought in 1935. He raised cattle and alfalfa. In August 1940, two girls drowned in his private lake while Lee was away.[21]

He converted part of his acreage overlooking the Chatsworth Reservoir into a motion picture location. Among the films shot there were I've Always Loved You, Strangers on a Train (1951), At Sword's Point, The Night of the Hunter (1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956),The Light in the Forest (1958) and Back Street (1961). By the early 1960s though the land had become too valuable to use as a location.[22][3][23]

Lee decided to return to filmmaking by producing The Big Fisherman from the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. He wrote the script with Howard Estabrook and hired Frank Borzage to direct it.[24]

In 1975, three months past his 84th birthday, Lee died of a heart attack at home in Palm Desert, California, having just finished writing a screenplay, a mystery called The Belt. He was survived by his wife, Eleanor, and brother, Donald W. Lee, a former Hollywood film writer.[3] While it has been reported incorrectly that the former Rowland V. Lee Ranch was subdivided and developed after his death, in fact development of the property began much earlier. Portions of the ranch had begun to be developed by the late 1950s, with the Corporate Pointe industrial park among the first major projects to be built in the area. Development continued throughout the 1960s, with much of the ranch becoming suburban single-family housing typical of the western San Fernando Valley. The section of the former ranch containing Lee Lake was the last major portion to be developed, becoming the gated community Hidden Lake Estates, which was completed by 1971. The lake remains intact as a part of the gated community.[23]

Lee has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California.[25]

Complete filmography Edit

As actor Edit

As director Edit

Key:

P : also producer
W : also writer
P, W : also producer and writer

As producer Edit

As writer Edit

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ "Bessie Love Will Have Leading Role With Arthur Trimble". Exhibitors Trade Review: 1175. September 30, 1922.
  2. ^ "Woman paper founder to be buried today". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 1953. ProQuest 166490572.
  3. ^ a b c d "Rowland Lee, 84, Of Films Is Dead". The New York Times. December 22, 1975.
  4. ^ "Silencer Saves Day For Star". Los Angeles Times. February 11, 1923. ProQuest 161332732.
  5. ^ "Convalescing". Los Angeles Times. April 1, 1923. ProQuest 161456564.
  6. ^ a b "Director Advances With "Man Without Country"". Los Angeles Times. July 13, 1924. ProQuest 161678705.
  7. ^ "He's Gripped By Booster Spirit". Los Angeles Times. March 29, 1925. ProQuest 161763193.
  8. ^ "George O'Brien To Sheik In Fox Film". Los Angeles Times. June 17, 1925. ProQuest 161800390.
  9. ^ M. H. (June 6, 1927). "Soundings". The New York Times. ProQuest 103943899.
  10. ^ G. Kingsley (December 22, 1928). "Director Renews With Lasky". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 162111034.
  11. ^ "Pola's New Vehicle Set In Blossoms". The Washington Post. February 18, 1928. ProQuest 149878721.
  12. ^ G. Kingsley (June 22, 1927). "Pola Negri's Next Chosen". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 161968345.
  13. ^ Martin Fridson (December 26, 2013). "The Non-Original Wolf Of Wall Street". Forbes. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  14. ^ "Baclanova To Lead Cast In Talking Film". The Washington Post. January 20, 1929. ProQuest 150006025.
  15. ^ "Actress lands long contract". Los Angeles Times. July 28, 1929. ProQuest 162283945.
  16. ^ "He Returned". Daily Standard. No. 6453. Queensland, Australia. September 21, 1933. p. 7. Retrieved January 25, 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "News Items Of The Studios". The New York Times. March 5, 1933. ProQuest 100767372.
  18. ^ "Puppets, Dangling From Her Finger Tips". Los Angeles Times. December 24, 1933. ProQuest 163139284.
  19. ^ "The Regent". The Argus. No. 27, 923. Victoria, Australia. February 17, 1936. p. 5. Retrieved January 25, 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ E. Schallert (November 5, 1945). "Robespierre story soon to be narrated". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 165638050.
  21. ^ "Two girls drown in private lake". Los Angeles Times. August 29, 1940. ProQuest 165089484.
  22. ^ H. Sutherland (June 4, 1967). "Movie ranch becomes residential community". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 155713458.
  23. ^ a b "Rowland V. Lee Ranch". Movie Sites.
  24. ^ Thomas M. Pryor (October 24, 1957). "Film Team Seeks Aid Of Psychology". The New York Times. ProQuest 114073774.
  25. ^ Resting Places
  26. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p.253.ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

External links Edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rowland V. Lee.
  • Rowland V. Lee at IMDb
  • Rowland V. Lee at TCMDB
  • at BFI
  • Rowland V. Lee at Virtual History
  • Rowland V. Lee Papers at Library of Congress

October 23, 2023
rowland, rowland, vance, september, 1891, december, 1975, american, film, director, actor, writer, producer, 1928bornrowland, vance, 1891, september, 1891findlay, ohio, dieddecember, 1975, 1975, aged, palm, desert, california, occupation, actor, director, prod. Rowland Vance Lee September 6 1891 December 21 1975 was an American film director actor writer and producer Rowland V LeeLee in 1928BornRowland Vance Lee 1891 09 06 September 6 1891Findlay Ohio U S DiedDecember 21 1975 1975 12 21 aged 84 Palm Desert California U S Occupation s Actor director producerRelativesRobert N Lee brother 1 Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early life 1 2 Acting career 1 3 Directing 1 3 1 Change of profession 1 3 2 Fox 1 3 3 Paramount 1 3 4 England 1 3 5 Edward Small 1 3 6 Universal 1 4 Later films 2 The Rowland V Lee Ranch and later life 3 Complete filmography 3 1 As actor 3 2 As director 3 3 As producer 3 4 As writer 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksBiography EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Rowland V Lee news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Early life Edit Born in Findlay Ohio Lee was the son of a suffragette who founded a newspaper 2 He studied at Columbia University and served in the infantry during World War I 3 Acting career Edit Lee had early appearances in Wild Winship s Widow 1917 Time Locks and Diamonds 1917 The Mother Instinct 1917 Polly Ann 1917 The Stainless Barrier 1917 The Maternal Spark 1917 and They re Off 1918 He appeared in the films The Woman in the Suitcase Water Water Everywhere His Own Law supporting Hobart Bosworth and Her Husband s Friend all 1920 Directing Edit Change of profession Edit Thomas H Ince suggested Lee make a choice between acting and directing Lee moved into directing starting with A Thousand to One 1920 Cupid s Brand 1921 and The Cup of Life 1921 3 He directed two films for former co star Hobart Bosworth Blind Hearts and The Sea Lion both 1921 citation needed Lee made What Ho the Cook 1921 Money to Burn 1922 The Men of Zanzibar 1922 His Back Against the Wall 1922 A Self Made Man 1922 Dust Flower 1922 and Mixed Faces 1922 Fox Edit Lee went to Fox where he directed Shirley of the Circus 1923 He directed and scripted a 1923 adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel Alice Adams which propelled him into the big time He followed it with Desire 1923 at Metro 4 He fell ill during the making of Desire 5 Back at Fox Lee directed Gentle Julia 1923 another Tarkington adaptation After Gentle Julia Lee spent several months studying filmmaking in Europe a practice he would continue for the next decade 6 Lee did You Can t Get Away with It 1923 In Love with Love 1924 with Marguerite De La Motte and an expensive adaptation of The Man Without a Country 1925 6 7 Other credits included Havoc 1925 The Outsider 1926 with Walter Pidgeon and The Silver Treasure 1927 based on Nostromo by Joseph Conrad 8 He also directed The Whirlwind of Youth 1927 9 Paramount Edit Lee went to Paramount in 1926 where he directed Pola Negri in Barbed Wire 1927 and The Secret Hour 1928 10 Doomsday 1928 starred Florence Vidor and Gary Cooper 11 He was reunited with Negri for Three Sinners 1928 and Loves of an Actress 1928 then did The First Kiss 1928 with Cooper and Fay Wray 12 In 1929 he directed The Wolf of Wall Street featuring George Bancroft 13 He followed it with A Dangerous Woman 1929 starring Olga Baclanova then Lee made the first sound Fu Manchu film The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu 1929 14 He spent three months touring Europe in 1929 15 Lee was one of many directors who contributed to the all star revue Paramount on Parade 1930 The Return of Dr Fu Manchu 1930 was a sequel to The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu Lee then made Ladies Love Brutes 1930 and Derelict 1930 with Bancroft and A Man from Wyoming 1930 with Cooper England Edit Lee went to Warners to make The Ruling Voice 1931 with Walter Huston He based himself in England for the next two years where he wrote an English version script of Captain Craddock 1931 did The Guilty Generation 1931 at Columbia and That Night in London 1931 for Paramount in England the latter starred Robert Donat 16 Back at Fox Lee directed Zoo in Budapest 1933 I Am Suzanne 1933 and Gambling 1934 the latter starred George M Cohan 17 18 Edward Small Edit Edward Small hired Lee to write and direct an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo 1934 for United Artists starring Donat it was a huge success and ushered in a cycle of swashbuckling films Fox had merged to become 20th Century Fox whose production head Darryl F Zanuck hired Lee to direct one of the studio s first films the biopic Cardinal Richelieu 1935 starring George Arliss 19 Lee received an offer from RKO to write and direct another swashbuckler The Three Musketeers 1935 For United Artists he did One Rainy Afternoon 1936 and the English shot Agatha Christie adaptation Love from a Stranger 1937 Back in Hollywood Lee was reunited with Small for The Toast of New York 1937 a biopic that was a notorious flop It was made at RKO who also financed Lee s next film Mother Carey s Chickens 1938 Universal Edit Lee signed a contract at Universal where he directed Service de Luxe 1938 He had a big success with Son of Frankenstein 1939 starring Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff Lee followed it with The Sun Never Sets 1939 with Rathbone and Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Tower of London 1939 with Rathbone and Karloff Later films Edit Lee made another swashbuckler for Small The Son of Monte Cristo 1940 He returned to RKO to do Powder Town 1942 then made a film for another independent producer Benedict Bogeaus The Bridge of San Luis Rey 1944 Bogeaus liked Lee s work and used him on the swashbuckler Captain Kidd 1945 Lee announced he would then made a film about Robespierre 20 but he ended up retiring in 1945 The Rowland V Lee Ranch and later life EditLee focused on running his ranch in the San Fernando Valley which he had bought in 1935 He raised cattle and alfalfa In August 1940 two girls drowned in his private lake while Lee was away 21 He converted part of his acreage overlooking the Chatsworth Reservoir into a motion picture location Among the films shot there were I ve Always Loved You Strangers on a Train 1951 At Sword s Point The Night of the Hunter 1956 Friendly Persuasion 1956 The Light in the Forest 1958 and Back Street 1961 By the early 1960s though the land had become too valuable to use as a location 22 3 23 Lee decided to return to filmmaking by producing The Big Fisherman from the novel by Lloyd C Douglas He wrote the script with Howard Estabrook and hired Frank Borzage to direct it 24 In 1975 three months past his 84th birthday Lee died of a heart attack at home in Palm Desert California having just finished writing a screenplay a mystery called The Belt He was survived by his wife Eleanor and brother Donald W Lee a former Hollywood film writer 3 While it has been reported incorrectly that the former Rowland V Lee Ranch was subdivided and developed after his death in fact development of the property began much earlier Portions of the ranch had begun to be developed by the late 1950s with the Corporate Pointe industrial park among the first major projects to be built in the area Development continued throughout the 1960s with much of the ranch becoming suburban single family housing typical of the western San Fernando Valley The section of the former ranch containing Lee Lake was the last major portion to be developed becoming the gated community Hidden Lake Estates which was completed by 1971 The lake remains intact as a part of the gated community 23 Lee has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California 25 Complete filmography EditAs actor Edit Wild Winship s Widow 1917 Archibald Herndon Time Locks and Diamonds 1917 Edgar Seymour The Mother Instinct 1917 Jacques Polly Ann 1917 Howard Straightlane The Stainless Barrier 1917 Richard Shelton The Maternal Spark 1917 Howard Helms They re Off 1918 Randolph Manners The Woman in the Suitcase 1920 W H Billy Fiske Water Water Everywhere 1920 Arthur Gunther Dangerous Days 1920 Graham Spencer His Own Law 1920 Jean Saval Her Husband s Friend 1920 Billy Westover final film role As director Edit Key P also producer W also writer P W also producer and writerA Thousand to One 1920 Cupid s Brand 1921 The Cup of Life 1921 Blind Hearts 1921 The Sea Lion 1921 What Ho the Cook W 1921 Money to Burn 1922 horror comedy 26 The Men of Zanzibar 1922 His Back Against the Wall 1922 A Self Made ManW 1922 Dust Flower 1922 Mixed Faces 1922 Shirley of the Circus 1922 Alice AdamsW 1923 Desire 1923 Gentle Julia 1923 You Can t Get Away with It 1923 In Love with Love 1924 The Man Without a Country 1925 Havoc 1925 The Outsider 1926 The Silver Treasure 1926 The Whirlwind of Youth 1927 Barbed Wire P W 1927 The Secret Hour W 1928 Doomsday P 1928 Three Sinners P 1928 Loves of an Actress W 1928 The First Kiss P 1928 The Wolf of Wall Street 1929 A Dangerous Woman 1929 The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu P 1929 uncredited Paramount on Parade 1930 sequence director The Return of Dr Fu Manchu P 1930 Ladies Love Brutes 1930 A Man from Wyoming 1930 Derelict 1930 The Ruling Voice W 1931 The Guilty Generation 1931 That Night in London 1932 Zoo in Budapest W 1933 I Am Suzanne W 1933 The Count of Monte Cristo W 1934 Gambling 1934 Cardinal Richelieu 1935 The Three Musketeers W 1935 One Rainy Afternoon 1936 Love from a Stranger 1937 The Toast of New York 1937 Mother Carey s Chickens 1938 Service de Luxe P 1938 Son of Frankenstein P 1939 The Sun Never Sets P 1939 Tower of London P 1939 The Son of Monte Cristo P 1940 Powder Town 1942 The Bridge of San Luis Rey P 1944 Captain Kidd P W 1945 As producer Edit Barbed Wire 1927 uncredited Doomsday 1928 Three Sinners 1928 The First Kiss 1928 The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu 1929 uncredited The Return of Dr Fu Manchu 1930 The Sign of Four Sherlock Holmes Greatest Case 1932 production supervisor Service de Luxe 1938 Son of Frankenstein 1939 The Sun Never Sets 1939 Tower of London 1939 The Son of Monte Cristo 1940 The Bridge of San Luis Rey 1944 The Big Fisherman 1959 As writer Edit What Ho the Cook 1921 A Self Made Man 1922 Alice Adams 1923 Barbed Wire 1927 The Secret Hour 1928 Loves of an Actress 1928 The Ruling Voice 1931 Le capitaine Craddock 1931 Monte Carlo Madness 1932 Zoo in Budapest 1933 I Am Suzanne 1933 The Count of Monte Cristo 1934 The Three Musketeers 1935 The Big Fisherman 1959 See also EditMulticolorReferences Edit Bessie Love Will Have Leading Role With Arthur Trimble Exhibitors Trade Review 1175 September 30 1922 Woman paper founder to be buried today Los Angeles Times June 10 1953 ProQuest 166490572 a b c d Rowland Lee 84 Of Films Is Dead The New York Times December 22 1975 Silencer Saves Day For Star Los Angeles Times February 11 1923 ProQuest 161332732 Convalescing Los Angeles Times April 1 1923 ProQuest 161456564 a b Director Advances With Man Without Country Los Angeles Times July 13 1924 ProQuest 161678705 He s Gripped By Booster Spirit Los Angeles Times March 29 1925 ProQuest 161763193 George O Brien To Sheik In Fox Film Los Angeles Times June 17 1925 ProQuest 161800390 M H June 6 1927 Soundings The New York Times ProQuest 103943899 G Kingsley December 22 1928 Director Renews With Lasky Los Angeles Times ProQuest 162111034 Pola s New Vehicle Set In Blossoms The Washington Post February 18 1928 ProQuest 149878721 G Kingsley June 22 1927 Pola Negri s Next Chosen Los Angeles Times ProQuest 161968345 Martin Fridson December 26 2013 The Non Original Wolf Of Wall Street Forbes Retrieved April 12 2014 Baclanova To Lead Cast In Talking Film The Washington Post January 20 1929 ProQuest 150006025 Actress lands long contract Los Angeles Times July 28 1929 ProQuest 162283945 He Returned Daily Standard No 6453 Queensland Australia September 21 1933 p 7 Retrieved January 25 2018 via National Library of Australia News Items Of The Studios The New York Times March 5 1933 ProQuest 100767372 Puppets Dangling From Her Finger Tips Los Angeles Times December 24 1933 ProQuest 163139284 The Regent The Argus No 27 923 Victoria Australia February 17 1936 p 5 Retrieved January 25 2018 via National Library of Australia E Schallert November 5 1945 Robespierre story soon to be narrated Los Angeles Times ProQuest 165638050 Two girls drown in private lake Los Angeles Times August 29 1940 ProQuest 165089484 H Sutherland June 4 1967 Movie ranch becomes residential community Los Angeles Times ProQuest 155713458 a b Rowland V Lee Ranch Movie Sites Thomas M Pryor October 24 1957 Film Team Seeks Aid Of Psychology The New York Times ProQuest 114073774 Resting Places Workman Christopher Howarth Troy 2016 Tome of Terror Horror Films of the Silent Era Midnight Marquee Press p 253 ISBN 978 1936168 68 2 External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rowland V Lee Rowland V Lee at IMDb Rowland V Lee at TCMDB Rowland V Lee at BFI Rowland V Lee at Virtual History Rowland V Lee Papers at Library of Congress Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rowland V Lee amp oldid 1180294037, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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