Matinee Classics - William Witney Biography & Filmography

William Witney DIRECTOR

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WILLIAM WITNEY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

William Nuelson Witney was a famous 20th century film and television director, most noted for his 'B' action flicks. During the golden age of the movie serial, Republic Studios had the finest, and Witney was the top director there. His excellence shone with fast paced sequences and fight scenes, as he developed new camera techniques to get the most magnificent, furious scene. He modeled his shooting after choreographer Busby Berkeley, breaking his scenes into segments before changing his sets and giving his stuntmen time to recuperate. This allowed them to give their utmost and complete effort every shot, lending a sense of fury and vigor to the screen. Even to this day, action directors follow suit to Witney’s amazing productions.

The famous director was born May 15, 1915 in Lawton, Oklahoma, but raised in California. He planned to go into the US Navy after high school, but upon a visit to his sister in Hollywood, he chose to instead stay there. Her husband was a director for the low-budget studio Mascot Pictures, and he landed Witney a job there. Mascot merged into Republic Studios two years following. He first worked at the studio as a messenger boy, progressively working his way up the filmmaking ladder. In 1933 he had his first acting job in “Fighting with Kit Carson”. He then had an assistant director position in “The Law of the Wild” (1934). Witney had a few more odd jobs as editor in “The Miracle Rider” (1935) and “Robinson Crusoe” (1936), script contributor in “Darkest Africa” (1936), “Red River Valley” (1936), and “The Vigilantes are Coming” (1936), story writer in “The Singing Vagabond” (1935), assistant director in “The Phantom Empire” (1935), “The Vigilantes are Coming” (1936), as well as actor in “The Vigilantes are Coming” (1936) before finally nabbing a directorial position in 1937’s “The Painted Stallion”. Ironically, he was not at first meant to be in charge of the project. The film was running into shooting delays, and Witney, who just so happened to be on site, was asked to take over directorial control. He finished in a timely manner and without going over budget. Consequently, he was asked to continue working as director, and for the next six years he served as one of the studio’s most countable serial makers, right along with Spencer Bennet and John English, with whom he commonly collaborated.

Witney went on to direct or co-direct twenty three of Republic’s most known serial films (some of which have also been displayed on television) between 1937 and 1946, not limited to the Zorro serials (“Zorro Rides Again” (1937), “Zorro’s Fighting Legion” (1939)), Lone Ranger serials (“The Lone Ranger” 1938), “The Lone Ranger Rides Again” (1939)), Dick Tracy serials (“Dick Tracy” (1937), “Dick Tracy Returns” (1938), “Dick Tracy’s G-Men” (1939), “Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.” (1941)), and Captain Marvel serial (“Adventures of Captain Marvel” (1941)). In 1943, Witney served in the US Marines, working as a combat photographer. In 1946 he returned to Republic to film his final serial, “The Crimson Ghost” (1946). Following, he was assigned a great number of 'B' westerners starring the largest celebrity of the genre at the time, Roy Rogers.

In all, from 1946 until 1951, the director worked on twenty seven Rogers pictures. These rapidly paced music filled movies turned out to be huge successes. Works like “Heldorado” (1946), “Apache Rose” (1947), “The Gay Ranchero” (1948), “The Golden Stallion” (1949), “Trigger, Jr.” (1950), and “South of Caliente” (1951) put Witney in the top “B” director ranks. In the 1950's, he directed nine westerns with singing star Rex Allen, also directing him in the television series “Frontier Doctor” (1958-59).

Beginning with “Stories of the Century” (1954-55), Witney began doing more TV shows. He directed many series, including “State Trooper” (1958), “Zorro” (1958-60), “Coronado 9” (1960-61), “Bonanza” (1961-67), “Tarzan” (1967-68), and his final TV contribution, “Kodiak” (1974). He did however, consistently stay present in the motion picture industry with hits like the classic “The Bonnie Parker Story” (1958), juvenile delinquency pictures “Juvenile Jungle” (1958) and “The Cool and the Crazy” (1958), war drama “Paratroop Command” (1959), and sci-fi adventure “The Master of the World” (1961). His final films were the comical musical “Darktown Strutters” (1975) and western “Quell and Co.” (1982).

On March 17, 2002, the esteemed director died from stroke complications in Jackson, California. In the same year, he was awarded a Golden Boot for all of his work in the western film genre. He will furthermore forever be remembered for his work with the action film. Even Boyd Magers, publisher and editor of Western Clippings magazine once proclaimed that “Everybody considers Bill Witney the greatest action director in 'B' movies [because] he just knew how to put things together for the screen – the fights, the wagon wrecks, the falls off the cliffs, whatever; they were just expertly done”.

Filmography

1982 Quell and Co.

1975 Darktown Strutters

1974 Kodiak

1974 The Cowboys

1973 I Escaped from Devil's Island

1967 The High Chaparral

1967 Tarzan

1967 Hondo

1967 Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion

1967 40 Guns to Apache Pass

1966 Daniel Boone

1966 Laredo