Delmer Daves

Although 'Delmer Daves' (qv) obtained a law degree at Stanford University, he never had the opportunity to use it; while still in college, he obtained a job as a prop boy on _The Covered Wagon (1923)_ (qv) and after graduation was hired by several film companies as a technical advisor on films with a college background. Soon afterward he entered films as an actor, and after appearing in several pictures he began collaborating on screenplays and original stories. He wrote scripts for many of Hollywood's best films of the 1930s and 1940s, including _The Petrified Forest (1936)_ (qv), _Love Affair (1939)_ (qv) and _You Were Never Lovelier (1942)_ (qv). Turning director with the classic _Destination Tokyo (1943)_ (qv), Daves often wrote and produced his own pictures. Of the many films he made, the westerns he did were especially close to his heart--as a youth he had spent much time living on reservations with Hopi and Navajo Indians.::[email protected]