W.S. Van Dyke Biography

Fast Facts

• Was nominated for a Venice Film Festival Award for "Marie Antoinette" in 1938
• Served as a major in the U․S․ Marines during World War II and set up a recruitment center at MGM to encourage his colleagues to join the war effort
• Was a California delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention
• Started out as a child actor on the vaudeville circuit with his mother, Laura Winston
• Worked several odd jobs, including janitor, railroad attendant, gold prospector, and lumberjack, before venturing to Hollywood in 1915 and working as D․W․ Griffith's assistant on "Intolerance" in 1916
• Best known as a film director who worked on "The Thin Man" series and "Tarzan the Ape Man․"
• Had a reputation for being efficient, always finishing his films on time and under budget, earning him the nickname "One Take Woody․"
• Directed several famous film stars of his day, four of whom received Oscar nominations for his films: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Norma Shearer, and Robert Morley
• Was often asked to help a movie that was struggling during filming, beginning when he was sent to Tahiti to rescue the slow-paced production of "White Shadows of the South Seas" in 1928
• Was a member of the Explorers Club, International Adventures Club, the Royal Geographic Society of London and dozens of other fraternal, professional, athletic and honorary organizations