Henry King

Filmmakers

Henry King (January 24, 1886 – June 29, 1982) was an American actor and film director. Before coming to film, King worked as an actor in various repertoire theatres and first started to take small film roles in 1912. Between 1913 and 1925, he appeared as an actor in approximately sixty films. He directed for the first time in 1915 and grew to become one of the most commercially successful Hollywood directors of the 1920s and ’30s. He was twice nominated for the Best Director Oscar. In 1944, he was awarded the first Golden Globe Award for Best Director for his film The Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones. He worked most often with Tyrone Power and Gregory Peck and for 20th Century Fox.

Notable films from the 1920s to 1930s include Romola (1924), with Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, William Powell and Ronald Colman; The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926), with Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky, and Gary Cooper; Carolina (1934), with Janet Gaynor, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Young, Stepin Fetchit and Shirley Temple; Marie Galante (1934), with Spencer Tracy and Ketti Gallian; Way Down Easy (1935), with Rochelle Hudson, Henry Fonda, Slim Summerville, Margaret Hamilton, Andy Devine, and Spring Byington; Ramona (1936), with Loretta Young and Don Ameche; Lloyd’s of London (1936), with Freddie Bartholomew, Tyrone Power, Madeleine Carroll, and Guy Standing; Seventh Heaven (1937), with Simone Simon and James Stewart; and Jesse James (1939), with Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, and Randolph Scott.

Films of the 1940s include Little Old New York (1940), with Alice Faye, Fred MacMurray, and Richard Greene; Remember the Day (1941), with Claudette Colbert and John Payne; The Black Swan (1941), with Power and Maureen O’Hara; The Song of Bernadette (1943), with Jennifer Jones, William Eythe, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price, Lee J. Cobb, and Gladys Cooper; A Bell for Adano (1945), with Gene Tierney, John Hodiak, and William Bendix; Margie (1946), with Jeanne Crain, Glenn Langan, Lynn Bari, and Hattie McDaniel; Prince of Foxes (1949), with Power and Orson Welles; and Twelve O’Clock High (1949), with Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, and Dean Jagger.

Later films include Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), with William Holden and Jones; The Sun Also Rises (1957), with Power, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, and Errol Flynn; The Earth Is Mine (1959), with Rock Hudson, Jean Simmons, Claude Rains, and Dorothy McGuire; Beloved Infidel (1959), with Peck, Deborah Kerr, and Eddie Albert; Tender Is the Night (1062), with Jennifer Jones, Jason Robards, Joan Fontaine, Tom Ewell, and Cesare Danova

Henry King was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards excellence of cinematic achievements every year, and was the last surviving founder. He directed more than 100 films in his career. In 1955, King was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by the George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. During World War II, King served as the deputy commander of the Civil Air Patrol coastal patrol base in Brownsville, Texas, holding the grade of captain. In his final years, he was the oldest licensed private pilot in the United States, having obtained his license in 1918.

Each review will be Linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Who Pays? (1915) – co-director
  • The Nemesis (1915) – short
  • Should a Wife Forgive? (1915)
  • Little Mary Sunshine (1916)
  • Pay Dirt (1916)
  • Shadows and Sunshine (1916)
  • When Might Is Right (1916) – short
  • The Oath of Hate (1916) – short
  • Pay Dirt (1916)
  • Faith’s Reward (1916) – short
  • Shadows and Sunshine (1916)
  • Joy and the Dragon (1916)
  • Twin Kiddies (1917)
  • Scepter of Suspicion (1917) – short
  • Told at Twilight (1917)
  • Vengeance of the Dead (1917) – short
  • Sunshine and Gold (1917)
  • Souls in Pawn (1917)
  • The Mainspring (1917) – short
  • The Bride’s Silence (1917)
  • The Climber (1917) – short
  • Southern Pride (1917)
  • A Game of Wits (1917)
  • The Mate of the Sally Ann (1917)
  • Beauty and the Rogue (1918)
  • Powers That Prey (1918)
  • Hearts or Diamonds? (1918)
  • Social Briars (1918)
  • Up Romance Road (1918)
  • The Locked Heart (1918)
  • Hobbs in a Hurry (1918)
  • All the World to Nothing (1918)
  • King Social Briars (1918)
  • When Mam Rides Alone (1919)
  • Where the West Begins (1919)
  • Brass Buttons (1919)
  • Some Liar (1919)
  • A Sporting Chance (1919
  • This Hero Stuff (1919)
  • Six Feet Four (1919)
  • 32 1/2 Hours’ Leave (1919)
  • A Fugitive from Matrimony (1919)
  • Haunting Shadows (1919)
  • The White Dove (1920)
  • Uncharted Channels (1920)
  • One Hour Before Dawn (1920)
  • Help Wanted – Male (1920)
  • Dice of Destiny (1920)
  • When We Were 21 (1921)
  • The Mistress of Shenstone (1921)
  • Salvage (1921)
  • The Sting of the Lash (1921)
  • Tol’able David (1921)
  • The Seventh Day (1922)
  • Sonny (1922)
  • The Bond Boy (1922)
  • Fury (1923)
  • The Bond Boy (1923)
  • The White Sister (1923)
  • Romola (1924)
  • Sackcloth and Scarlet (1925)
  • Any Woman (1925)
  • Stella Dallas (1925)
  • Partners Again (1926)
  • The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
  • The Magic Flame (1927)
  • The Woman Disputed (1928)
  • She Goes to War (1929)
  • Hell Harbor (1930)
  • The Eyes of the World (1930)
  • Lightnin’ (1930)
  • Merely Mary Ann (1931)
  • Over the Hill (1931)
  • The Woman in Room 13 (1932)
  • State Fair (1933)
  • I Loved You Wednesday (1933)
  • My Lips Betrayed (1933) – uncredted co-director
  • Carolina (1934)
  • Marie Galante (1934)
  • One More Spring (1935)
  • Way Down East (1935)
  • The Country Doctor (1936)
  • Ramona (1936)
  • Lloyd’s of London (1936)
  • Seventh Heaven (1937)
  • In Old Chicago (1937)
  • Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
  • Jesse James (1939)
  • Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
  • Little Old New York (1940)
  • Maryland (1940)
  • Chad Hanna 1940)
  • A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)
  • Remember the Day (1941)
  • The Black Swan (1942)
  • The Song of Bernadette (1943)
  • Wilson (1944)
  • A Bell for Adano (1945)
  • Margie (1946)
  • Captain from Castile (1947)
  • Deep Waters (1948)
  • Prince of Foxes (1949)
  • Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
  • The Gunfighter (1950)
  • I’d Climb the Highest Mountain (1951)
  • David and Bathsheba (1951)
  • The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
  • Wait till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952)
  • O. Henry’s Full House (1952) – directed with Henry Koster, Henry Hathaway, Jean Negulesco, & Howard Hawks
  • King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)
  • Untamed (1955)
  • Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  • Carousel (1956)
  • The Sun Also Rises (1957)
  • The Bravados (1958)
  • This Earth Is Mine (1959)
  • Beloved Infidel (1959)
  • Tender Is the Night (1962)