William A. Seiter

Originally a writer and artist, 'William A. Seiter' (qv) entered films with Selig. He worked from 1915 as a stunt double and bit player at Keystone and quickly graduated to directing comedy shorts. He moved up to features in the 1920s. He married actress 'Laura La Plante' (qv), who he directed in several films, such as _Skinner's Dress Suit (1926)_ (qv), He was at his best, though, in charge of comic teams such as 'Bert Wheeler' (qv) and 'Robert Woolsey' (qv), 'Stan Laurel' (qv) and 'Oliver Hardy' (qv) (he directed what many believe to be their finest film, _Sons of the Desert (1933)_ (qv)), 'Bud Abbott' (qv) and 'Lou Costello' (qv) (_Little Giant (1946)_ (qv)) and 'The Marx Brothers' (qv).Most of his early work was under contract to Universal (1924-28) and Warner Brothers (1928-29). He successfully made the transition to sound and remained much in demand for light comedy, working for RKO (1931-34), 20th Century-Fox (1934-38), Universal (1939-41 and again from 1945-49). He retired in 1954. He is perhaps best remembered for "Sons of the Desert" and the musical _Roberta (1935)_ (qv) with 'Fred Astaire' (qv) and 'Ginger Rogers' (qv).::A. Nonymous