Richard Wilson
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Wilson taught directing at USC and was involved with the DGA, Academy and National Repertory Theater and served as a judge in the American College Theater Festival.
Biography
Longtime associate of Orson Welles who joined Welles and John Houseman at the founding of the Mercury Theater company in 1937. Wilson worked as stage manager and actor in such Mercury productions as "Julius Caesar," "The Cradle Will Rock," "Native Son" and "Heartbreak House" while simultaneously working as an actor and production assistant on the radio program "Mercury Theater of the Air," including its legendary broadcast of "The War of the Worlds." Wilson appeared in "Citizen Kane" (1941) and "The Lady from Shanghai" (1948), for which he served as associate producer).
After Welles left for Europe in the early 50s, Wilson joined Universal as a producer working on the Ma and Pa Kettle films and in the mid-50s began directing features, mostly highly realistic Westerns and gangster films including "Al Capone" (1959), "Pay or Die" (1960) and "Invitation to a Gunfighter" (1964).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1937
Joined Mercury Theater and worked as stage manager and actor for "Julius Caesar", "The Cradle Will Rock", "Native Son", "Heartbreak House"
1942
Was second unit director on the uncompleted semi-documentary, "It's All True"
1942
Served in the US Air Force as chief of the operations division of the Office of Strategic Services in charge of presenting intelligence films to the staff
1945
Served as chief photographic officer for the Secretariat of the United Nations at its opening conference in San Francisco
1946
Co-produced Welles's stage production of the Cole Porter musical, "Around the World in 80 Days"
1955
Film directing and writing debut, "Man With the Gun"
1986
Returned to Brazil to begin work on a documentary based on his experiences with Welles during the 1942 production of the unfinished semi-documentary "It's All True"
1990
Directed a radio broadcast of "Dracula" in New York which was filmed as a study in radio directing techniques
1991
Co-produced a collection of vintage Mercury radio dramas intitled "Theater of the Imagination" for Voyager laserdisk (date approximate)
1991
Was producing a feature film about the 1942 production of the unfinished film project, "It's All True" at time of his death which his co-producers plan to complete
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Wilson taught directing at USC and was involved with the DGA, Academy and National Repertory Theater and served as a judge in the American College Theater Festival.
