King Vidor Net Worth
King Vidor Net Worth is
$14 Million
King Vidor Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
King Wallis Vidor (February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades. In 1979 he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his "incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator." He was nominated five times for a Best Director Oscar, and won eight international film awards during his career. | Full Name | King Vidor |
| Date Of Birth | February 8, 1894 |
| Died | 1982-11-01 |
| Place Of Birth | Galveston, Texas, U.S. |
| Height | 5' 10" (1.78 m) |
| Profession | Director, Writer, Producer |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Florence Vidor, Eleanor Boardman, Elizabeth Hill |
| Children | Suzanne, Antonia, Belinda, Suzanne, Antonia, Belinda |
| Parents | Charles Shelton Vidor |
| Awards | Academy Honorary Award, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, DGA Lifetime Achievement Award, Award for Best Director |
| Nominations | Academy Award for Best Director, Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture, BAFTA Award for Best Film, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, Academy Award for Best Dramatic Picture Direction |
| Movies | The Crowd, The Big Parade, Duel in the Sun, War and Peace, The Fountainhead, Hallelujah, The Wizard of Oz, Stella Dallas, Solomon and Sheba, Our Daily Bread, The Champ, Street Scene, Show People, The Citadel, Northwest Passage, Man Without a Star, Beyond the Forest, Ruby Gentry, Bird of Paradise, An... |
| Star Sign | Aquarius |
| Title | Salary |
|---|---|
| The Big Parade (1925) | $425 /week |
| # | Quote |
|---|---|
| 1 | In my opinion, the motion picture is the greatest medium of expression ever invented. It embraces all the other arts. The films that have the greatest unity, the greatest overall strength, and give the most satisfaction to the viewer, have been those in which a guiding hand was imposed in every section of the film's many divisions. Story, casting, settings, photography, clothes, acting, should all bespeak one mind. The director owes the audience an explanation. You have to make what you're trying to say understandable. What good is it if no one understands it? The scene doesn't have to be real. We deal with illusion, and the job of director is to control the illusion. |
| 2 | A simple story filmed with limited sets can often be more effective than a costly extravaganza. provided it had depth. , and allows the audience to identify with the character. |
| 3 | My love affair with the greatest medium of expression has never faltered. It embraces all other art forms. |
| 4 | [on the chaotic conditions of early Hollywood] Men who had never been inside a studio were given directing assignments on pure bluff. They wouldn't have the slightest notion of what a camera could do. Some of these ne'er-do-wells would turn out several pictures before being discovered; by the time busy executives got around to viewing their initial efforts, they would be well into their third film. |
| 5 | [on Gary Cooper] He got a reputation as a great actor just by thinking hard about the next line. |
| 6 | [on Robert Donat] He is the only actor I have ever known who had a graph of his character development charted out on the wall of his dressing room. |
| 7 | [on Frank Capra] Very often I would see the wheels going around and the tricks coming up. It was probably useful, but I used to be aware of the mechanics of it and how you would work toward a gag to get a gag in. I'm sure he'd think the same thing about me. He's a good filmmaker. |
| 8 | [on Hedy Lamarr] Her beauty made up for whatever she lacked in acting ability. Acting probably didn't come naturally to her but the note of unsureness in what she did seemed to give her a certain childish attractiveness. |
| 9 | [on unwittingly relinquishing his profit share in the hugely successful The Big Parade (1925) for a nominal sum] I thus spared myself from becoming a millionaire instead of a struggling young director trying to do something interesting and better with a camera. |
| 10 | In Hollywood, the cameraman lights the star. In Europe, he lights the set. |
| 11 | The director is the channel through which a motion picture reaches the screen. |
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | His grandfather, Karoly (Charles) Vidor, was a Hungarian immigrant who serve with the 1st Texas Infantry at the battle of Gettysburg. |
| 2 | Served as uncredited "technical advisor" on three Pare Lorentz documentaries: The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936), The River (1938) and The Fight for Life (1940). |
| 3 | Early in 1920 Vidor bought a square block of Santa Monica Boulevard and built Vidor Village, his own movie studio. The first movie filmed there was an adaptation of an Ellis Parker Butler book, The Jack-Knife Man (1920). |
| 4 | Thre young Vidor wrote 52 scripts before one was accepted. After he began being employed in several jobs at Universal, he continued to write under a pen name in order to circumvent the studio's rule that no employee was allowed to sell an original scenario to the studio. |
| 5 | When Orson Welles received the achievement award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, he acknowledged his debt to Vidor as a friend and mentor. |
| 6 | Received his Walk of Fame star on the day of his 66th birthday (February 8, 1960). |
| 7 | He retired after making Solomon and Sheba (1959), settling on his Paso Robles ranch in San Luis Obispo County, CA. In later years he lectured film students and budding filmmakers in directing at the University of Southern California. |
| 8 | His wartime drama The Big Parade (1925) cost about $200,000. However, MGM production chief Irving Thalberg was so impressed by the rough cut that he ordered additional war footage to be shot in order to bolster production values. That extra footage brought the cost of the film up to $380,000. |
| 9 | Having been talked out of his percentage of the net profits for The Big Parade (1925) by Louis B. Mayer, Vidor received as compensation assurances of being able to freely select his own subject matter in between studio assignments. This led directly to his two major successes in the late 1920s, The Crowd (1928)--a downbeat story of city life--and the pioneering all-black musical Hallelujah (1929). |
| 10 | Vidor was one of the most important directors to work at MGM during its heyday, under contract 1923-1930, and 1938-1944 (in between, a spell at Paramount, 1935-1936). After he left the studio, he directed one of his best films, the epic western Duel in the Sun (1946) for Selznick, then was briefly under contract at Warner Brothers, 1949-50. |
| 11 | The city of Vidor, Texas, was named after his father Charles Shelton Vidor, a prominent businessman who founded the Miller-Vidor Lumber Co., and the town grew up around it. |
| 12 | Founder and president of King Vidor Productions, formed in 1920. |
| 13 | Began at Universal Studios as a clerk for $12 per week. |
| 14 | Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 823-825. New York: Charles Scribner's. |
| 15 | Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1962 |
| 16 | In 1978, he (co-presenter) accepted the Oscar for "Best Director" on behalf of Woody Allen, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony |
| 17 | Directed six different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Wallace Beery, Robert Donat, Barbara Stanwyck, Anne Shirley, Jennifer Jones and Lillian Gish. Beery won an Oscar for The Champ (1931). |
| 18 | He had three daughters. His oldest, Suzanne, was born to his first wife Florence in 1919. With Eleanor Boardman he had daughters Antonia, born in 1927, and Belinda, born in June, 1930. |
| 19 | The Big Parade (1925) was a huge hit. When MGM discovered that a clause in Vidor's contract entitled him to 20% of the net profits, studio lawyers called a meeting with him. At the meeting, MGM accountants played up the costs of the picture while downgrading the studio forecast of its potential success. Vidor was persuaded to sell his stake in the film for a small sum. The film ran for 96 weeks at the Astor Theater alone and grossed $5 million (approximately $67.3 million in 2014 dollars) domestically by 1930, making it the most profitable release in MGM history at that point. |
| 20 | Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 1130-1136. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. |
| 21 | Was obsessed by the unsolved murder of 1920s director William Desmond Taylor. He spent all of 1967 attempting to learn the identity of Taylor's killer and planned to turn the story into a movie. |
| 22 | Directed the black-and-white sequences (the Kansas scenes), including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", in The Wizard of Oz (1939) when director Victor Fleming was forced to leave the production to move to Gone with the Wind (1939). |
| 23 | Entered into Guinness World Records as having "The Longest Career As A Film Director", spanning 67 years beginning with Hurricane in Galveston (1913) in 1913 and ending with the documentary The Metaphor (1980) in 1980. |
| 24 | Survived the most horrific hurricane to ever hit the US, the 1900 storm that devastated Galveston, TX, on September 8, 1900. This tropical cyclone killed an estimated 6,000 people, fully one-third of the city's population. Vidor wrote a fictional account of the storm entitled "Southern Storm" for the May 1935 issue of "Esquire" magazine. |
| 25 | (1936-1938) President of the Screen Directors Guild. |
| 26 | Father of Suzanne Vidor Parry (b. 1919) by his first marriage to Florence Vidor and Antonia Vidor (b. 1927) and Belinda Vidor Holiday (b. 1930) by his second marriage to Eleanor Boardman. |
Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Metaphor | 1980 | Documentary short | |
| A Personal Culture: Artist Tony Duquette | 1973 | Documentary short | |
| Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics | 1964 | Documentary short as Nicholas Rodiv | |
| Solomon and Sheba | 1959 | ||
| Ford Star Jubilee | 1956 | TV Series 1 episode | |
| War and Peace | 1956 | ||
| Man Without a Star | 1955 | ||
| Light's Diamond Jubilee | 1954 | TV Movie documentary | |
| Ruby Gentry | 1952 | ||
| Japanese War Bride | 1952 | ||
| Lightning Strikes Twice | 1951 | ||
| Beyond the Forest | 1949 | ||
| The Fountainhead | 1949 | ||
| On Our Merry Way | 1948 | ||
| Duel in the Sun | 1946 | ||
| An American Romance | 1944 | ||
| H.M. Pulham, Esq. | 1941 | ||
| Comrade X | 1940 | ||
| Northwest Passage | 1940 | ||
| The Wizard of Oz | 1939 | director: Kansas scenes - uncredited | |
| The Citadel | 1938 | ||
| Stella Dallas | 1937 | ||
| The Texas Rangers | 1936 | ||
| So Red the Rose | 1935 | ||
| The Wedding Night | 1935 | ||
| Our Daily Bread | 1934 | ||
| The Stranger's Return | 1933 | ||
| Cynara | 1932 | ||
| Bird of Paradise | 1932 | ||
| The Champ | 1931/I | uncredited | |
| Street Scene | 1931 | ||
| Billy the Kid | 1930 | ||
| Not So Dumb | 1930 | ||
| Hallelujah | 1929 | ||
| Show People | 1928 | ||
| The Patsy | 1928 | ||
| The Crowd | 1928 | ||
| Bardelys the Magnificent | 1926 | ||
| La Bohème | 1926 | ||
| The Big Parade | 1925 | ||
| Proud Flesh | 1925 | ||
| The Wife of the Centaur | 1924 | ||
| His Hour | 1924 | ||
| Wine of Youth | 1924 | ||
| Happiness | 1924 | ||
| Wild Oranges | 1924 | ||
| Three Wise Fools | 1923 | ||
| The Woman of Bronze | 1923 | ||
| Peg o' My Heart | 1922 | ||
| Conquering the Woman | 1922 | ||
| Dusk to Dawn | 1922 | ||
| Real Adventure | 1922 | ||
| Love Never Dies | 1921 | ||
| The Sky Pilot | 1921 | ||
| The Jack-Knife Man | 1920 | ||
| The Family Honor | 1920 | as King W. Vidor | |
| Poor Relations | 1919 | ||
| The Other Half | 1919 | as King W. Vidor | |
| Better Times | 1919 | as King W. Vidor | |
| The Turn in the Road | 1919 | ||
| Kid Politics | 1918 | Short | |
| The Case of Bennie | 1918 | Short | |
| The Three Fives | 1918 | Short | |
| Dog vs. Dog | 1918 | Short | |
| Love of Bob | 1918 | Short | |
| I'm a Man | 1918 | Short | |
| The Accusing Toe | 1918 | Short | |
| A Boy Built City | 1918 | Short | |
| The Preacher's Son | 1918 | Short | |
| The Rebellion | 1918 | Short | |
| Thief or Angel | 1918 | Short | |
| Tad's Swimming Hole | 1918 | Short | |
| The Lost Lie | 1918 | Short | |
| Marrying Off Dad | 1918 | Short | |
| The Chocolate of the Gang | 1918 | Short | |
| Bud's Recruit | 1918 | Short as King W. Vidor | |
| The Grand Military Parade | 1913 | ||
| Hurricane in Galveston | 1913 |
Writer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics | 1964 | Documentary short as Nicholas Rodiv | |
| War and Peace | 1956 | adaptation | |
| Streets of Laredo | 1949 | original screenplay - uncredited | |
| An American Romance | 1944 | story | |
| H.M. Pulham, Esq. | 1941 | screenplay | |
| Northwest Passage | 1940 | contributing writer - uncredited | |
| The Texas Rangers | 1936 | story | |
| Our Daily Bread | 1934 | the story | |
| Susan Lenox | 1931 | uncredited | |
| Hallelujah | 1929 | story | |
| The Crowd | 1928 | screen play / story - uncredited | |
| The Big Parade | 1925 | uncredited | |
| His Hour | 1924 | titles | |
| Wild Oranges | 1924 | adapted by | |
| Three Wise Fools | 1923 | writer | |
| Love Never Dies | 1921 | adaptation | |
| Poor Relations | 1919 | screenplay / story | |
| The Other Half | 1919 | story - as King W. Vidor | |
| Better Times | 1919 | screenplay - as King W. Vidor / story - as King W. Vidor | |
| The Turn in the Road | 1919 | screenplay / story | |
| The Pursuing Package | 1918 | Short story | |
| There Goes the Bride | 1918 | Short story | |
| Eddie, Get the Mop | 1918 | Short story | |
| Bud's Recruit | 1918 | Short scenario | |
| A Bad Little Good Man | 1917 | Short story | |
| The Fifth Boy | 1917 | Short scenario | |
| What'll We Do with Uncle? | 1917 | Short screenplay / story | |
| When It Rains, It Pours! | 1916 | Short story |
Producer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Metaphor | 1980 | Documentary short producer | |
| Ruby Gentry | 1952 | producer | |
| An American Romance | 1944 | producer | |
| H.M. Pulham, Esq. | 1941 | producer - uncredited | |
| Comrade X | 1940 | producer | |
| The Texas Rangers | 1936 | producer | |
| Our Daily Bread | 1934 | producer - uncredited | |
| Bird of Paradise | 1932 | producer | |
| The Champ | 1931/I | producer | |
| Billy the Kid | 1930 | producer | |
| Not So Dumb | 1930 | producer - uncredited | |
| Hallelujah | 1929 | producer | |
| Show People | 1928 | producer - uncredited | |
| The Patsy | 1928 | producer - uncredited | |
| The Big Parade | 1925 | producer - uncredited | |
| Wine of Youth | 1924 | producer | |
| Alice Adams | 1923 | producer | |
| Conquering the Woman | 1922 | producer | |
| Dusk to Dawn | 1922 | producer | |
| Real Adventure | 1922 | producer | |
| Love Never Dies | 1921 | producer | |
| The Jack-Knife Man | 1920 | producer | |
| The Family Honor | 1920 | producer |
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Love & Money | 1982 | Walter Klein | |
| It's a Great Feeling | 1949 | King Vidor (uncredited) | |
| Our Daily Bread | 1934 | Farmer Yelling 'Let It Go!' (uncredited) | |
| Show People | 1928 | King Vidor (uncredited) | |
| Faith | 1916 | ||
| The Intrigue | 1916 | Undetermined Role (uncredited) | |
| Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages | 1916 | Extra (uncredited) |
Miscellaneous
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics | 1964 | Documentary short presenter | |
| The Fight for Life | 1940 | technical advisor - uncredited | |
| The River | 1938 | Documentary short technical advisor - uncredited | |
| The Plow That Broke the Plains | 1936 | Documentary short technical advisor - uncredited | |
| The Jack-Knife Man | 1920 | presenter |
Cinematographer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics | 1964 | Documentary short as Nicholas Rodiv |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| An American Romance | 1944 | lyrics: "Lord Please Send Down Your Love" - uncredited |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ciné regards | 1981 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The 53rd Annual Academy Awards | 1981 | TV Special | Himself - Presenter: Best Director |
| Hollywood | 1980 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself / Himself - Interviewee |
| The Metaphor | 1980 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Hollywood Greats | 1979 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The 51st Annual Academy Awards | 1979 | TV Special documentary | Himself - Winner: Honorary Award |
| Chronicle | 1978 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The 50th Annual Academy Awards | 1978 | TV Special | Himself - Co-Presenter: Best Director |
| The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor | 1973 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| A Personal Culture: Artist Tony Duquette | 1973 | Documentary short | Himself |
| 75 Years of Cinema Museum | 1972 | Documentary | Himself |
| Hollywood: The Selznick Years | 1969 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| Cinéastes de notre temps | 1969 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics | 1964 | Documentary short | Narration (as Nicholas Rodiv) |
| Hedda Hopper's Hollywood | 1960 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Ed Sullivan Show | 1956 | TV Series | Himself |
| Northward, Ho! | 1940 | Documentary short | Himself (uncredited) |
| 1925 Studio Tour | 1925 | Documentary short | Himself - a Director |
| Screen Snapshots, Series 4, No. 4 | 1923 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Souls for Sale | 1923 | Himself (uncredited) | |
| Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 11 | 1922 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 2 | 1922 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Screen Snapshots, Series 1, No. 11 | 1920 | Documentary short | Himself |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| And the Oscar Goes To... | 2014 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Short and Spicy Skits from the Other Side of Hollywood: The Home Movies of William Randolph Hearst | 2013 | Short | Himself |
| The Story of Film: An Odyssey | 2011 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| Birth of Hollywood | 2011 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| Cineastas contra magnates | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood | 2005 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| American Masters | 2001 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies | 2001 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (archive audiotape interview) (uncredited) |
| Federico Fellini - un autoritratto ritrovato | 2000 | Documentary | Himself |
| The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic | 1990 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Hollywood Mavericks | 1990 | Documentary | Himself |
| Henry Fonda: The Man and His Movies | 1982 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| 30 Years of Fun | 1963 |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | OCIC Award - Honorable Mention | San Sebastián International Film Festival | The Big Parade (1925) | |
| 1982 | Career Golden Lion | Venice Film Festival | ||
| 1979 | Honorary Award | Academy Awards, USA | For his incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator. | |
| 1979 | Honorary Prize | Moscow International Film Festival | For the contribution to the cinema. | |
| 1977 | Career Achievement Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | ||
| 1976 | Silver Medallion Award | Telluride Film Festival, US | ||
| 1960 | Star on the Walk of Fame | Walk of Fame | Motion Picture | On 8 February 1960. At 6743 Hollywood Blvd. |
| 1957 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Directors Guild of America, USA | ||
| 1935 | Best Director | Venice Film Festival | The Wedding Night (1935) |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director | War and Peace (1956) |
| 1957 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Director | War and Peace (1956) |
| 1957 | DGA Award | Directors Guild of America, USA | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | War and Peace (1956) |
| 1948 | Grand International Award | Venice Film Festival | Duel in the Sun (1946) | |
| 1939 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director | The Citadel (1938) |
| 1935 | Mussolini Cup | Venice Film Festival | Best Foreign Film | The Wedding Night (1935) |
| 1932 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director | The Champ (1931) |
| 1932 | Audience Referendum | Venice Film Festival | IN-COMPETITION | The Champ (1931) |
| 1930 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director | Hallelujah (1929) |
| 1929 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director, Dramatic Picture | The Crowd (1928) |
Known for movies
War and Peace (1956)
as Director
The Crowd (1928)
as Director
Duel in the Sun (1946)
as Director
The Big Parade (1925)
as Director