| Edmund Goulding | |
| Birth Date: | 20 March 1891 |
| Birth Place: | Feltham, Middlesex, England |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Occupation: | Film director, writer |
| Years Active: | 1916–1958 |
Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 1920s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray for films directed by her then husband Robert Z. Leonard. Goulding is best remembered for directing cultured dramas such as Love (1927), Grand Hotel (1932) with Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, Dark Victory (1939) with Bette Davis, The Constant Nymph (1943) with Joan Fontaine, and The Razor's Edge (1946) with Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power. He also directed the classic film noir Nightmare Alley (1947) with Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, and the action drama The Dawn Patrol. He was also a successful songwriter, composer, and producer.
Before moving to films, Goulding was an actor, playwright and director on the London stage.[1]
Interviewed about his Goulding biography Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory (2009), film historian Matthew Kennedy stated:
He not only directed many types of films, but he took on multiple functions on each set. Though he didn't usually take credit, he co-wrote many scripts, composed incidental music, produced, even consulted on makeup, costumes, and hair styling. His one blind spot in production seems to be the camera...When shooting a scene, Eddie was intent on capturing performers at their best and most truthful, but he left the mechanics of filming to his cameramen...he seemed adept at just about everything — comedy (Everybody Does It, We're Not Married!), ensemble dramas (Grand Hotel), family relations (White Banners, Claudia), war (The Dawn Patrol, We Are Not Alone), psychiatry (The Flame Within), show business (Blondie of the Follies), male-female relationships (The Devil's Holiday, Riptide), and even existentialism (The Razor's Edge) and the dark arts of spiritism (Nightmare Alley).[2]
Together with Jack Conway, Goulding holds the distinction of having directed the most Best Picture-nominated films without ever receiving a nomination for Best Director, with three (Grand Hotel, which won the award; Dark Victory; and The Razor's Edge).
Goulding died during heart surgery at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[3]
| Year | Title | Production co. | Cast | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silent films | |||||||
| 1916 | Little Lady Eileen | co-written with Betty T. Fitzgerald | |||||
| 1916 | The Quest of Life | Based on one of his plays | |||||
| 1917 | The Silent Partner | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1918 | The Ordeal of Rosetta | Select | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1919 | The Imp | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1919 | The Perfect Lover | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1919 | The Glorious Lady | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1919 | A Regular Girl | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1919 | Sealed Hearts | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1920 | A Daughter of Two Worlds | First National | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1920 | Madonnas and Men | Independent | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1920 | The Dangerous Paradise | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1920 | The Sin That Was His | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1921 | The Devil | Pathé Exchange | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1921 | Dangerous Toys | Independent | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1921 | A Man of Stone | Selznick | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1921 | Tol'able David | First National | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1922 | Peacock Alley | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1922 | Three Live Ghosts | Actor | |||||
| 1922 | Till We Meet Again | Independent | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1922 | The Seventh Day | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1922 | Fascination | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1922 | Broadway Rose | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1922 | Heroes of the Street | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1923 | Fury | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1923 | Dark Secrets | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1923 | Bright Lights of Broadway | Independent | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1923 | Jazzmania | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1923 | Tiger Rose | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1923 | The Bright Shawl | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1924 | The Man Who Came Back | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1924 | Dante's Inferno | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1924 | Gerald Cranston's Lady | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | The Dancers | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | The Scarlet Honeymoon | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | The Fool | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | Havoc | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | Sun-Up | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1925 | The Beautiful City | First National | Screenwriter | ||||
| 1925 | Sally, Irene and Mary | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1926 | Dancing Mothers | Based on one of his plays | |||||
| 1926 | Paris | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1927 | Women Love Diamonds | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1927 | Love | Director, producer | |||||
| 1928 | A Certain Young Man | Uncredited Director. Lost film. | |||||
| 1928 | Happiness Ahead | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1928 | A Lady of Chance | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1929 | Queen Kelly | Hired by Swanson to help complete and edit the film | |||||
| Sound films | |||||||
| 1929 | The Trespasser | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1929 | The Broadway Melody | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1930 | Paramount on Parade | Paramount Star Revue | A musical revue using 11 directors and starring various Paramount stars / Some Technicolor sequences | ||||
| 1930 | The Devil's Holiday | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1930 | Hell's Angels | Hired by Howard Hughes to direct the silent scenes used in the final film | |||||
| 1930 | Reaching for the Moon | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1930 | The Grand Parade | Screenwriter, producer | |||||
| 1931 | The Night Angel | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1932 | Grand Hotel | Director, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture | |||||
| 1932 | Flesh | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1932 | No Man of Her Own | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1932 | Blondie of the Follies | Director | |||||
| 1934 | Riptide | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1934 | Hollywood Party | Hollywood Revue | In an attempt to salvage the film, MGM producer Harry Rapf hired Goulding and eight other directors to direct sequences for the film. | ||||
| 1935 | The Flame Within | Director, screenwriter, producer | |||||
| 1935 | A Night at the Opera | Directed a few scenes | |||||
| 1937 | That Certain Woman | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1938 | White Banners | Director | |||||
| 1938 | The Dawn Patrol | Director | |||||
| 1939 | Dark Victory | Director | |||||
| 1939 | The Old Maid | Director | |||||
| 1939 | We Are Not Alone | Director | |||||
| 1940 | 'Til We Meet Again | Director. Goulding shot 70% of the film around bouts of pneumonia. | |||||
| 1940 | Two Girls on Broadway | Screenplay | |||||
| 1941 | The Great Lie | Director | |||||
| 1943 | Forever and a Day | Director, producer. Goulding directed a segment for the film. | |||||
| 1943 | Old Acquaintance | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1943 | The Constant Nymph | Director | |||||
| 1943 | Claudia | Director | |||||
| 1944 | Of Human Bondage | Director | |||||
| 1945 | Flight from Folly | Screenwriter | |||||
| 1946 | The Razor's Edge | Director | |||||
| 1947 | The Shocking Miss Pilgrim | Director. Goulding filled in for George Seaton while he was ill during production / Technicolor film | |||||
| 1947 | Nightmare Alley | Director | |||||
| 1949 | Everybody Does It | Director | |||||
| 1950 | Mister 880 | Director | |||||
| 1952 | We're Not Married! | Director | |||||
| 1953 | Down Among the Sheltering Palms | Director. Technicolor film. | |||||
| 1956 | Teenage Rebel | Director, screenwriter | |||||
| 1958 | Mardi Gras | Director | |||||