Don Siegel

Donald Siegel
Siegel in 1968
Born(1912-10-26)October 26, 1912
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedApril 20, 1991(1991-04-20) (aged 78)
Nipomo, California, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • editor
Years active1939−84
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1948; div. 1953)​
Doe Avedon
​
​
(m. 1957; div. 1975)​
Carol Rydall
​
​
(m. 1981)​
Children5, including Kristoffer Tabori

Donald Siegel (/ˈsiːɡəl/ SEE-gəl; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film and television director, producer, and editor. He was described by The New York Times as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut plots centered on individualistic loners".[1]

He directed the science-fiction horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), as well as five films with Clint Eastwood, including the police thriller Dirty Harry (1971) and the prison drama Escape from Alcatraz (1979). He also directed John Wayne's final film, the Western The Shootist (1976). Siegel's earlier film Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) was noted as an influence on the development of auteur theory and the French New Wave.[2] One critic described him as "Hollywood's greatest genre director."[3]

Early life and education

Siegel was born in 1912 to a Jewish family[4] in Chicago; his father was Samuel Siegel, a mandolin player.[5] Siegel attended schools in New York, then moved to England to study at Jesus College, Cambridge and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[1] For a short time, he studied at Beaux Arts in Paris, but left at age 20 and later went to Los Angeles.[6]

Career

Siegel found work in the Warner Bros. film library after meeting producer Hal Wallis,[6] and later rose to head of the montage department, where he directed thousands of montages, including the opening montage for Casablanca. In 1945, two shorts he directed, Star in the Night and Hitler Lives, won Academy Awards, which launched his career as a feature director.[2] Siegel directed whatever material came his way, often transcending the limitations of budget and script to produce interesting and adept works. His 1954 prison thriller Riot in Cell Block 11, shot on-location at Folsom State Prison, was noted by auteurist critics of the French New Wave era,[2][7] and earned Siegel a Directors Guild of America Award nomination

He made the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), described by The Guardian in 2014 as a "fatalistic masterpiece" and "a touchstone for the sci-fi genre" which spawned three remakes.[8] For television, he directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone, "Uncle Simon" (1963) and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" (1964), and was the producer of The Legend of Jesse James (1965).[9] He worked with Eli Wallach in The Lineup, Elvis Presley and Dolores del Río in Flaming Star (1960), with Steve McQueen in Hell Is for Heroes, and Lee Marvin in the influential The Killers (1964) before directing five of Eastwood's films that were commercially successful in addition to being well received by critics. These included the action films Coogan's Bluff and Dirty Harry, the Albert Maltz-scripted Western Two Mules for Sister Sara, the American Civil War melodrama The Beguiled, and the prison-break picture Escape from Alcatraz. Siegel also directed Charley Varrick starring Walter Matthau, which was originally slated for Eastwood, but ultimately turned down by the actor.

He was a considerable influence on Eastwood's own career as a director, and Eastwood's film Unforgiven is dedicated "for Don and Sergio".

Siegel had a long collaboration with composer Lalo Schifrin, who scored five of his films: Coogan's Bluff, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick, and Telefon. Schifrin composed and recorded what would have been his sixth score for Siegel on Jinxed! (1982), but it was rejected by the studio despite Siegel's objections. This conflict was one of several fights Siegel had on his last film.[10]

Siegel was also important to the career of director Sam Peckinpah. In 1954, Peckinpah was hired as a dialogue coach for Riot in Cell Block 11. His job entailed acting as an assistant to the director, Siegel. The film was shot on location at Folsom Prison. Siegel's location work and his use of actual prisoners as extras in the film made a lasting impression on Peckinpah. He worked as a dialogue coach on four additional Siegel films: Private Hell 36 (1954), An Annapolis Story (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), and Crime in the Streets (1956).[11] Twenty-five years later, Peckinpah was all but banished from the industry due to his troubled film productions. Siegel gave the director a chance to return to filmmaking. He asked Peckinpah if he would be interested in directing 12 days of second unit on Siegel's Jinxed! film. Peckinpah immediately accepted, and his earnest collaboration with his longtime friend was noted within the industry. While Peckinpah's work was uncredited, it led to his hiring as the director of his final film The Osterman Weekend (1983).[12][13]

Cameos

Siegel had a small role as a bartender in Eastwood's Play Misty for Me, and in Dirty Harry. In Philip Kaufman's 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a remake of Siegel's 1956 film, he appears as a taxi driver. In Charley Varrick, he has a cameo as a ping-pong player. He also appears in the 1985 John Landis film Into the Night. Siegel also has a small role in The Killers.

Honors

Siegel received Lifetime Achievement honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Telluride Film Festival.

Personal life

Siegel and actress Viveca Lindfors were married from 1948 to 1953. They had a son, Kristoffer Tabori. He married Doe Avedon in 1957. They adopted four children and then divorced in 1975. Siegel then married Carol Rydall, a former secretary to Clint Eastwood.

Death

Siegel at age 78 from cancer in Nipomo, California. Siegel is buried near Highway 1 in the coastal Cayucos-Morro Bay District Cemetery. He was an atheist.[14]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Functioned as Studio/Distributor Starring Notes
Director Producer
1945 Star in the Night Yes No Warner Bros. J. Carrol Naish, Donald Woods, Rosina Galli Short film
Hitler Lives Yes No N/a Short documentary
1946 The Verdict Yes No Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Joan Lorring
1949 Night Unto Night Yes No Ronald Reagan, Viveca Lindfors, Broderick Crawford
The Big Steal Yes No RKO Pictures Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix
1952 The Duel at Silver Creek Yes No Universal Pictures Stephen McNally, Audie Murphy, Faith Domergue
No Time for Flowers Yes No RKO Pictures Viveca Lindfors, Paul Hubschmid, Ludwig Stössel
1953 Count the Hours Yes No Macdonald Carey, Teresa Wright, John Craven
China Venture Yes No Columbia Pictures Edmond O'Brien, Barry Sullivan, Jocelyn Brando
1954 Riot in Cell Block 11 Yes No Allied Artists Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen
Private Hell 36 Yes No The Filmakers Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Howard Duff
1955 An Annapolis Story Yes No Allied Artists John Derek, Diana Lynn, Kevin McCarthy
1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers Yes No Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
Crime in the Streets Yes No James Whitmore, John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo
1957 Baby Face Nelson Yes No United Artists Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke
Spanish Affair Yes No Paramount Pictures Richard Kiley, Carmen Sevilla, José Guardiola Co-directed with Luis Marquina
1958 The Gun Runners Yes No United Artists Audie Murphy, Eddie Albert, Patricia Owens
The Lineup Yes No Columbia Pictures Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson
1959 Hound-Dog Man Yes No 20th Century Fox Fabian Forte, Stuart Whitman, Carol Lynley
Edge of Eternity Yes Associate Columbia Pictures Cornel Wilde, Victoria Shaw, Mickey Shaughnessy
1960 Flaming Star Yes No 20th Century Fox Elvis Presley, Barbara Eden, Dolores del Río
1962 Hell Is for Heroes Yes No Paramount Pictures Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker
1964 The Killers Yes Yes Universal Pictures Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes
1968 Coogan's Bluff Yes Yes Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Susan Clark
Madigan Yes No Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens
1969 Death of a Gunfighter Yes No Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, John Saxon Replaced Robert Totten
Credited as 'Allen Smithee'[a]
1970 Two Mules for Sister Sara Yes No Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Manolo Fábregas
1971 The Beguiled Yes Yes Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman
Dirty Harry Yes Yes Warner Bros. Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Andrew Robinson
1973 Charley Varrick Yes Yes Universal Pictures Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Andrew Robinson
1974 The Black Windmill Yes Yes Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Delphine Seyrig
1976 The Shootist Yes No Paramount Pictures John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard
1977 Telefon Yes No Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Charles Bronson, Lee Remick, Donald Pleasence
1979 Escape from Alcatraz Yes Yes Paramount Pictures Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Fred Ward
1980 Rough Cut Yes No Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down, David Niven
1982 Jinxed! Yes No Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Bette Midler, Ken Wahl, Rip Torn

Other production credits

Year Title Notes
1939 Confessions of a Nazi Spy Montage editor
The Roaring Twenties
1940 Brother Orchid
All This, and Heaven Too
They Drive by Night
Knute Rockne, All American
1941 Meet John Doe
One Foot in Heaven
Blues in the Night
They Died with Their Boots On
Sergeant York 2nd unit director
1942 Now, Voyager Montage editor
George Washington Slept Here
Gentleman Jim
Across the Pacific
Casablanca
1943 The Hard Way
Edge of Darkness
Mission to Moscow Montage editor/2nd unit director
This Is the Army Montage editor
Northern Pursuit 2nd unit director
1944 The Adventures of Mark Twain Montage editor
To Have and Have Not 2nd unit director
The Conspirators
1945 Saratoga Trunk Montage editor/2nd unit director
1946 Devotion Montage editor
1949 All the King's Men 2nd unit director

Television

Year Title Functioned as Network Notes
Director Producer
1952-53 The Doctor Yes No NBC 3 episodes
1955 Frontier Yes No 1 episode
1957 Code 3 Yes No Syndication
1959 Adventure Showcase Yes No CBS
1960 Alcoa Theatre Yes No NBC
1961 Bus Stop Yes No ABC
1963 The Lloyd Bridges Show Yes No CBS
Breaking Point Yes No ABC
1963-64 The Twilight Zone Yes No CBS 2 episodes[b]
1964 Destry Yes No ABC 1 episode
The Hanged Man Yes No NBC TV movie
1965 Convoy Yes Yes 1 episode
1965-66 The Legend of Jesse James Yes Yes ABC Director; 1 episode
Producer; 34 episodes
1967 Stranger on the Run Yes No NBC TV movie

Notes

  1. ^ The Directors Guild of America pseudonym 'Alan Smithee' was created for this film.
  2. ^ "Uncle Simon" and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross".

References

  1. ^ a b Flint, Peter B. (April 24, 1991). "Don Siegel, Whose Movies Herald Tough, Cynical Loners, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Meisler, Stanley (June 12, 1985). "Passionate Affair : For French, Filmgoing Is de Rigueur". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  3. ^ "Western Fidelity: The Cinema of Don Siegel". MUBI. April 27, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  4. ^ Erens, Patricia (August 1988). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-253-20493-6.
  5. ^ "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949". FamilySearch. Donald Siegel, 26 Oct 1912. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Munn, p. 75
  7. ^ "Don Siegel Profile". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  8. ^ Patterson, John (October 27, 2014). "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers: Don Siegel's fatalistic masterpiece". The Guardian. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  9. ^ Alvin H. Marill (June 2011). Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags, and Sidewinders. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810881334. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Reported by the Los Angeles Times in 1982.
  11. ^ Weddle, David (1994). If They Move...Kill 'Em!. Grove Press. pp. 116–119. ISBN 0-8021-3776-8.
  12. ^ Weddle, David (1994). If They Move...Kill 'Em!. Grove Press. pp. 534–535. ISBN 0-8021-3776-8.
  13. ^ "Jinxed!". imdb.com. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  14. ^ David Robinson, 'Don Siegel's stories', The Times, 1 May 1975; pg. 11; Issue 59384; col E.

Further reading

  • Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.
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