Wesley Ruggles

The younger brother of Hollywood character player 'Charles Ruggles' (qv), 'Wesley Ruggles' (qv) spent most of his early years in San Francisco. He attended university there, began a lengthy apprenticeship in stock and musical comedy and then joined Keystone in Hollywood as an actor in 1914 working alongside 'Syd Chaplin' (qv). Moving on to Essanay a year later, he worked briefly alongside 'Charles Chaplin' (qv). In 1917, he graduated to directing after being signed by Vitagraph. During the closing stages of the First World War, he served as a camera operator with the Army Signal Corps. After that it was back to the studios. Unfortunately, he found himself encumbered by routine scripts and such inane assignments as _The Leopard Woman (1920)_ (qv). For the next few years his workload included several forgettable 'Ethel Clayton' (qv) melodramas and a series of short comedies made at FBO, starring 'Alberta Vaughn' (qv). Following a spell at Universal (1927-29), Wesley had his most productive period at RKO (1931-32) and Paramount (1932-39). At RKO he directed the western blockbuster _Cimarron (1931)_ (qv), the most expensive picture made by this studio to date, at $1.4 million. While the costs were not recouped at the box office (its loss of $565,000 was attributed to the effects of the Great Depression), it won the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy 'Awards' (qv). Wesley narrowly lost out to 'Norman Taurog' (qv) (for _Skippy (1931)_ (qv)) in the directing stakes.At Paramount, Wesley showed his flair for comedy with 'Mae West' (qv)'s best-loved film, _I'm No Angel (1933)_ (qv), and with three excellent vehicles for 'Carole Lombard' (qv): the romantic drama _No Man of Her Own (1932)_ (qv) (co-starring 'Clark Gable' (qv)), the entertaining, elegantly-mounted _Bolero (1934)_ (qv) (featuring 'Sally Rand' (qv)'s famous fan dance) and the delightful comedy _True Confession (1937)_ (qv). Moreover, he also handled the quintessential '30s tearjerker _Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936)_ (qv).By the early 1940's, his career was on the decline, however. After short-term tenures at Columbia and MGM, he was signed by 'J. Arthur Rank' (qv) as producer/director for the lavish British Technicolor musical _London Town (1946)_ (qv). This picture turned out to be a fiasco of major proportions and brought about his premature retirement.::I.S.Mowis