Delmer Daves


Director
Delmer Daves

About

Birth Place
San Francisco, California, USA
Born
July 24, 1904
Died
August 17, 1977

Biography

Accomplished visual stylist who often wrote his own imaginative, and genre-defying, screenplays; his films are always technically proficient but sometimes lack substance. As a teenager Daves lived for a time with native American Indians, an experience which informed his 1950 film "Broken Arrow," one of the first sympathetic treatments of American Indians to reach the screen....

Photos & Videos

Family & Companions

Mary Lawrence
Wife
Actor, author. Married from 1938 until Daves' death in 1977; died on September 24, 1991 of complications of pneumonia at the age of 73; appeared on TV series "Love That Bob" (1956-58); married banker Samuel Doak Young Sr after Daves' death; wrote art books "Mother and Child" (1975) and "Lovers" (1982).

Biography

Accomplished visual stylist who often wrote his own imaginative, and genre-defying, screenplays; his films are always technically proficient but sometimes lack substance. As a teenager Daves lived for a time with native American Indians, an experience which informed his 1950 film "Broken Arrow," one of the first sympathetic treatments of American Indians to reach the screen.

Filmography

 

Director (Feature Film)

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
Director
Youngblood Hawke (1964)
Director
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Director
Rome Adventure (1962)
Director
Parrish (1961)
Director
Susan Slade (1961)
Director
A Summer Place (1959)
Director
The Hanging Tree (1959)
Director
Cowboy (1958)
Director
The Badlanders (1958)
Director
Kings Go Forth (1958)
Director
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Director
The Last Wagon (1956)
Director
Jubal (1956)
Director
Drum Beat (1954)
Director
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
Director
Never Let Me Go (1953)
Director
Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953)
Director
Return of the Texan (1952)
Director
Bird of Paradise (1951)
Director
Broken Arrow (1950)
Director
Task Force (1949)
Director
A Kiss in the Dark (1949)
Director
To the Victor (1948)
Director
Dark Passage (1947)
Director
The Red House (1947)
Director
Pride of the Marines (1945)
Director
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Director
Destination Tokyo (1944)
Director
The Very Thought of You (1944)
Director

Cast (Feature Film)

Good News (1930)
Beef
The Bishop Murder Case (1930)
Raymond Sperling
The Duke Steps Out (1929)
Bossy Edwards
Christmas Memories (1915)

Writer (Feature Film)

Love Affair (1994)
From Story
Love Affair (1994)
Story By
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
Screenwriter
Youngblood Hawke (1964)
Screenwriter
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Screenwriter
Rome Adventure (1962)
Screenwriter
Susan Slade (1961)
Screenwriter
Parrish (1961)
Screenwriter
A Summer Place (1959)
Writer
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Screenwriter
The Last Wagon (1956)
Screenwriter
Jubal (1956)
Screenwriter
White Feather (1955)
Screenwriter
Drum Beat (1954)
Written by
Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953)
Screenwriter
Bird of Paradise (1951)
Writer
Task Force (1949)
Writer
Dark Passage (1947)
Screenwriter
The Red House (1947)
Wrt for the Screenplay by
Destination Tokyo (1944)
Screenwriter
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Original Screenplay
The Very Thought of You (1944)
Screenwriter
Stage Door Canteen (1943)
Original Screenplay
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Screenwriter
Unexpected Uncle (1941)
Screenwriter
Night of January 16th (1941)
Screenwriter
Safari (1940)
Screenwriter
It All Came True (1940)
Contr to trmt
The Farmer's Daughter (1940)
Story
Love Affair (1939)
Screenwriter
$1,000 a Touchdown (1939)
Original story and Screenplay
Professor Beware (1938)
Screenwriter
The Singing Marine (1937)
Original Screenplay
The Go Getter (1937)
Screenwriter
She Married an Artist (1937)
Screenwriter
Ever Since Eve (1937)
Contr to trmt
Slim (1937)
Contr to Screenplay const
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Screenwriter
Stranded (1935)
Screenwriter
Shipmates Forever (1935)
Story and Screenplay
Page Miss Glory (1935)
Screenwriter
Miss Pacific Fleet (1935)
Contr to Screenplay const
Flirtation Walk (1934)
Screenwriter
No More Women (1934)
Screenwriter
Dames (1934)
Screenwriter
Flirtation Walk (1934)
Original Story
Dames (1934)
Story
Clear All Wires (1933)
Cont
Divorce in the Family (1932)
Screenwriter
Divorce in the Family (1932)
Story
Shipmates (1931)
Adaptation
Shipmates (1931)
Dial
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)
Cont
So This Is College (1929)
Screenwriter

Producer (Feature Film)

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
Producer
Youngblood Hawke (1964)
Producer
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Producer
Rome Adventure (1962)
Producer
Parrish (1961)
Producer
Susan Slade (1961)
Producer
A Summer Place (1959)
Producer
Drum Beat (1954)
Producer

Music (Feature Film)

Christmas Memories (1915)
Music

Production Companies (Feature Film)

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
Company
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Company
Rome Adventure (1962)
Company
Susan Slade (1961)
Company

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Going Hollywood: The War Years (1988)
Other
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
Other

Life Events

1923

First film as prop boy, "The Covered Wagon"

1943

Film directing debut, "Destination Tokyo"

Photo Collections

The Badlanders - Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Here are a few photos taken behind-the-scenes during production of The Badlanders (1958), starring Alan Ladd and Ernest Borgnine.

Videos

Movie Clip

Summer Place, A (1959) -- (Movie Clip) I've Been A Good Girl! Rescued teens Molly (Sandra Dee) and John (Troy Donahue) return from their night stranded on a coastal island, her mother Helen (Constance Ford) assuming they have sinned, in Delmer Daves' A Summer Place, 1959.
Summer Place, A (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Waiting To Be Kissed A version of the giant hit theme song by Max Steiner accompanies Johnny (Troy Donahue), son of the troubled couple that owns the resort, escorting Sandra Dee (as Molly), daughter of the VIP guests, with provocative talk and shots from writer-producer-director Delmer Daves in A Summer Place, 1959, from the novel by Sloan Wilson.
Summer Place, A (1959) -- (Movie Clip) We've Spoiled Two Lives Critical revelations as well-to-do Ken (Richard Egan), visiting the island inn owned by Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) and her useless boozy husband Bart, steps in to fix the roof and revisit their implied but so-far not confirmed old romance, a big moment in Delmer Davis’ hit melodrama A Summer Place, 1959, also starring Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue.
Jubal (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Most Horses Is Better Than Humans First scene after the opening, in which rancher Shep (Ernest Borgnine) found Glenn Ford (title character) staggering out of the Wyoming woods, introducing Pinky (Rod Steiger), Sam (Noah Beery Jr.) and Carson (John Dierkes), in Jubal, 1956, directed by Delmer Daves, often cited as a Western treatment of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Jubal (1956) -- (Movie Clip) They'll Steal You Blind Director Delmer Daves introduces key characters, as new ranch foreman Glenn Ford (title character) has to intervene when Pinky (Rod Steiger) and friends tangle with a caravan of Christian pilgrims (Basil Ruysdael as Shem Hoktor, Felicia Farr his daughter, Charles Bronson riding shotgun), in Jubal, 1956.
Jubal (1956) -- (Movie Clip) We're Ending This Before It Starts Joining dinner with big-hearted rancher Shep (Ernest Borgnine) who’s taken a liking to his new hand (Glenn Ford, title character) and offers him a job, with no idea about the misdeeds of his youthful Canadian wife Mae (English ingenue Valerie French, in her first Hollywood role), in director Delmer Daves’ dark Western, Jubal, 1956.
Jubal (1956) -- (Movie Clip) You Might Get Burned Glenn Ford (title character) is winning over folks at the Wyoming cattle ranch, where he was brought by the owner who found him wandering in the mountains, especially the rancher’s young wife Mae (Valerie French), whose intentions are barely disguised, in director Delmer Daves’ Jubal, 1956.
Jubal (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Promised Land, I Guess If you wondered whey they were called “psychological Westerns,” ranch foreman Glenn Ford (title character) surprises himself, opening up to Naomi (Felicia Farr), whose father leads a band of pilgrims passing through, in Jubal, 1956, Delmer Daves directing from the screenplay he co-wrote with Russell S. Hughes, from a novel by Paul I. Wellman.
Hanging Tree, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Maybe Forever Vagrant Rune (Ben Piazza), seen stealing from a gold sluice in the new Montana mining town of Skull Creek, and shot by pursuing miners, meets Doc (Gary Cooper), who is new in town and whose background is so far unknown, early in Delmer Daves’ The Hanging Tree, 1959.
Broken Arrow (1950) -- (Movie Clip) I Am Cochise Having spent a month learning Apache language and customs, and a big riding-in sequence from director Delmer Daves, Arizona scout Jeffords (James Stewart), having decided on his own to negotiate with Cochise (Jeff Chandler) to permit mail service, meets the imposing chief, in Broken Arrow, 1950.
Broken Arrow (1950) -- (Movie Clip) White Painted Lady Received into the Arizona stronghold of Apache leader Cochise (Jeff Chandler), scout and former soldier Jeffords (James Stewart), seeking negotiations over mail service, observes tribal customs and meets young initiate Sonseeahray (Debra Paget), in Delmer Daves’ Broken Arrow, 1950.
Destination Tokyo (1943) -- (Movie Clip) I Never Seen A Doll On A Submarine Officers under command of Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) take the U.S.S. Copperfin out, crewmen Tin Can (Dane Clark), Mike (Tom Tully), Cookie (Alan Hale) and Wolf (John Garfield) introduced, in Delmer Daves' Destination Tokyo, 1943.

Trailer

Hollywood Canteen -- (Original Trailer) Half of Hollywood pitches in to help a serviceman and a starlet find love at the Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Singing Marine, The - (Original Trailer) A young Marine (Dick Powell) develops an inflated ego after winning a talent contest in The Singing Marine (1937), the movie that gave the U.S. Marines their theme song.
Hanging Tree, The - (Original Trailer) A doctor (Gary Cooper) saves a man from hanging then tries to run his life in The Hanging Tree (1959).
Flirtation Walk - (Original Trailer) 42nd Street stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler head a musical salute to West Point in Flirtation Walk (1934).
Petrified Forest, The - (Original Trailer) An escaped convict holds the customers at a remote desert cantina hostage in The Petrified Forest (1936) starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis & Humphrey Bogart.
3:10 To Yuma (1957) - (Original Trailer) A rancher (Van Heflin) must run the gauntlet to get a prisoner (Glenn Ford) to the 3:10 To Yuma, directed by Delmer Daves.
Shipmates Forever - (Original Trailer) An admiral's son (Dick Powell) gives up the Navy for a career as a song-and-dance man in the musical Shipmates Forever (1935).
Susan Slade - (Original Trailer) A pregnant teen (Connie Stevens) allows her mother to pass the baby off as her own in Susan Slade (1961).
Dark Passage - (Original Trailer) A man falsely accused of his wife's murder escapes to search for the real killer in Dark Passage, 1947, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Demetrius and the Gladiators - (Original Trailer) Victor Mature is sentenced to be a gladiator in the sequel to The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).
Task Force -- (Original Trailer) Gary Cooper plays a naval officer who devotes his life to the development of the aircraft carrier in Task Force (1949).
Unexpected Uncle - (Original Trailer) A bored retiree (Charles Coburn) decides to play matchmaker in Unexpected Uncle (1941).

Companions

Mary Lawrence
Wife
Actor, author. Married from 1938 until Daves' death in 1977; died on September 24, 1991 of complications of pneumonia at the age of 73; appeared on TV series "Love That Bob" (1956-58); married banker Samuel Doak Young Sr after Daves' death; wrote art books "Mother and Child" (1975) and "Lovers" (1982).

Bibliography