Stuart Heisler

Director 'Stuart Heisler' (qv) began his film-industry career as a prop man in 1913, joining 'Mack Sennett' (qv) at Keystone the following year. He worked as an editor for 'Samuel Goldwyn' (qv) at United Artists from 1924-25 and again from 1929-34 and at Paramount from 1935-36. He graduated to second-unit director with 'John Ford' (qv)'s _The Hurricane (1937)_ (qv). He started his directorial career at Paramount in 1940 and stayed there until 1942, turning out mostly "B"-grade films but was occasionally given an "A" picture. The majority of his output was routine but he did turn out several first-rate films, his best-known probably being the sleeper hit _The Biscuit Eater (1940)_ (qv), a small film about a boy and a dog that became an unexpected financial and critical success, garnering Heisler the best reviews of his career. After leaving Paramount he free-lanced. He directed 'Bette Davis' (qv) in _The Star (1952)_ (qv) and did a bang-up job with 'Ginger Rogers' (qv) and 'Ronald Reagan' (qv) in the hard-hitting anti-Klan drama _Storm Warning (1951)_ (qv). He made his last film, the underwhelming _Hitler (1962)_ (qv), in 1962. He had begun directing for television in 1960 and after _Hitler (1962)_ (qv) he went into it full time, retiring in 1964.::A. Nonymous