Richard Thorpe
Directing
Born 1896-02-24
Died 1991-05-01
Hutchinson, Kansas, USA
155 credits
Read biography
Richard Thorpe (February 24, 1896 - May 1, 1991) was an American film director. Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred and eighty films. The first full length motion picture he directed for MGM was Last of the Pagans (1935) starring Ray Mala. After directing The Last Challenge in 1967, he retired from the film industry. He died in Palm Springs, California in 1991.
Thorpe is also known as the original director of The Wizard of Oz. He was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. Thorpe notoriously gave Judy Garland a blonde wig and cutesy "baby-doll" makeup that made her look like a girl in her late teens rather than an innocent Kansas farm girl of about thirteen. Both makeup and wig were discarded at the suggestion of George Cukor, who was brought in temporarily. Stills from Thorpe's work on the film survive today.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 155
How the West Was Won
Jailhouse Rock
Ivanhoe
Tarzan Escapes
Vengeance Valley
Knights of the Round Table
Beauty Parlor
Athena
The Prisoner of Zenda
Fiesta
Malaya
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Two Girls and a Sailor
Forgotten
The Great Caruso
The Toy Wife
That's Entertainment, Part II
All the Brothers Were Valiant
It's a Big Country
The Prodigal
Her Highness and the Bellboy
Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Skedaddle Gold
Escapade
The Last Challenge
Above Suspicion
Double Daring
Tarzan Finds a Son!
A Date with Judy
Cheating Cheaters
Fun in Acapulco
On an Island with You
Thrill of a Romance
Big Jack
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
Cry 'Havoc'
Double Wedding
The Thin Man Goes Home
The Unknown Man
Easy Going
The Girl Who Had Everything
Roarin' Broncs
Black Hand
Three Little Words
Thundering Romance
Bedevilled
Carbine Williams
Quentin Durward
Killers of Kilimanjaro
Apache Trail
Three Loves Has Nancy
The Truth About Spring
The Tartars
That Funny Feeling
The Meddlin' Stranger
Josselyn's Wife
White Cargo
Follow the Boys
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