After a two-year apprenticeship under Cecil B. DeMille as assistant director, Samuel Grosvenor Wood had the good fortune to have assigned to him two of the biggest stars at Paramount during their heyday: Wallace Reid, between 1919 and 1920; and Gloria Swanson, from 1921 to 1923. By the time his seven-year contract with Paramount expired, the ...
Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director
Movies
Gone with the Wind, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Night at the Opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, A Day at the Races, The Pride of the Yankees, Kings Row, Kitty Foyle, Saratoga Trunk, Our Town, The Devil and Miss Jones, The Stratton Story, Casanova Brown, Beyond the Rocks, Command Decision, Hold Your Man, Gues...
Star Sign
Cancer
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Quote
1
There is as much need for relief from comedy as from the starkest tragedy. Audiences may think that they'd like to laugh every minute, but they wouldn't. The emotional demands are just too great. That's why, in A Day at the Races (1937), the romance and music are included as interludes.
2
[on working with Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)] You're positive he's going to ruin your picture. I froze in my tracks the first time I directed him. I thought something was wrong with him, saw a million-dollar production go glimmering. I was amazed at the result on the screen. What I thought was underplaying turned out to be just the right approach. On the screen he's perfect, yet on the set you'd swear it's the worst job of acting in the history of motion pictures.
Late in his life, he served as the President of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization whose aim was to ferret out "subversives" in Hollywood. In this capacity, he provided key testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, helping to fan fears of Communist influence in the U.S. film industry.
8
Appeared as actor in the early part of the century under the name Chad Applegate.
9
Former real estate broker.
10
Before becoming a director, Wood had worked on pipelines for an oil company.
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Lord Jeff
1938
Navy Blue and Gold
1937
Madame X
1937
A Day at the Races
1937
The Good Earth
1937
uncredited
The Unguarded Hour
1936
Whipsaw
1935
A Night at the Opera
1935
Rendezvous
1935
uncredited
Let 'em Have It
1935
The Girl from Missouri
1934
uncredited
Stamboul Quest
1934
Hollywood Party
1934
uncredited
The Cat and the Fiddle
1934
uncredited
Christopher Bean
1933
Hold Your Man
1933
uncredited
The Barbarian
1933
Fast Life
1932
uncredited
Prosperity
1932
uncredited
Huddle
1932
uncredited
New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford
1931
uncredited
The Man in Possession
1931
uncredited
A Tailor Made Man
1931
Paid
1930
Way for a Sailor
1930
uncredited
The Sins of the Children
1930
uncredited
The Girl Said No
1930
They Learned About Women
1930
It's a Great Life
1929
So This Is College
1929
Queen Kelly
1929
uncredited
Telling the World
1928
The Latest from Paris
1928
The Fair Co-Ed
1927
A Racing Romeo
1927
Rookies
1927
One Minute to Play
1926
Fascinating Youth
1926
The Re-Creation of Brian Kent
1925
The Mine with the Iron Door
1924
The Female
1924
Bluff
1924
The Next Corner
1924
His Children's Children
1923
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
1923
Prodigal Daughters
1923
My American Wife
1922
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
1922
Beyond the Rocks
1922
Her Gilded Cage
1922
Her Husband's Trademark
1922
Don't Tell Everything
1921
Under the Lash
1921
The Great Moment
1921
Peck's Bad Boy
1921
The Snob
1921
Her Beloved Villain
1920
Her First Elopement
1920
A City Sparrow
1920
What's Your Hurry?
1920
Sick Abed
1920
The Dancin' Fool
1920
Excuse My Dust
1920
Double Speed
1920
Ambush
1950
The Stratton Story
1949
Command Decision
1948
Ivy
1947
Heartbeat
1946
Saratoga Trunk
1945
Guest Wife
1945
Casanova Brown
1944
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1943
The Pride of the Yankees
1942
Kings Row
1942
The Devil and Miss Jones
1941
Kitty Foyle
1940
Rangers of Fortune
1940
Our Town
1940
Gone with the Wind
1939
uncredited
Raffles
1939
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1939
Stablemates
1938
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Ambush
1950
producer
Ivy
1947
executive producer
Address Unknown
1944
producer
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1943
producer
Lord Jeff
1938
producer
Navy Blue and Gold
1937
producer - uncredited
A Day at the Races
1937
producer - uncredited
The Unguarded Hour
1936
producer - uncredited
Whipsaw
1935
producer - uncredited
Stamboul Quest
1934
producer
Hold Your Man
1933
producer
The Barbarian
1933
producer
Prosperity
1932
producer
Huddle
1932
producer - uncredited
The Man in Possession
1931
producer
A Tailor Made Man
1931
producer
Paid
1930
producer - uncredited
Way for a Sailor
1930
producer - uncredited
The Sins of the Children
1930
producer - uncredited
The Girl Said No
1930
producer - uncredited
So This Is College
1929
producer - uncredited
The Fair Co-Ed
1927
producer
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
So This Is College
1929
Football Game Commentator (uncredited)
Don't Change Your Husband
1919
Undetrmined Role (uncredited)
Who Knows?
1917
Shed Applegate
The Little American
1917
Wounded Soldier (uncredited)
Assistant Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Party
1937
Short assistant director - uncredited
Why Change Your Wife?
1920
assistant director - uncredited
For Better, for Worse
1919
assistant director
The Squaw Man
1918
assistant director - uncredited
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Port of Seven Seas
1938
retakes director
The Cat and the Fiddle
1934
director: re-takes - uncredited
Tugboat Annie
1933
director of retakes - uncredited
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Lord Jeff
1938
uncredited
Peck's Bad Boy
1921
adaptation
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976
Documentary acknowledgment: the non-musical sequences represent outstanding contributions by
$8 Million
