George Breakston Explained

George Breakston
Birth Name:George Paul Breakston
Birth Date:January 22, 1920
Birth Place:Paris, France
Death Place:Paris, France
Years Active:1935 - 1966

George Paul Breakston (January 22, 1920  - May 21, 1973) was a French-American actor, producer and film director,[1] active in Hollywood from his days as a child actor in Andy Hardy films in the 1930s (where he played the character Beezy[2]), to a period as an independent producer/director in the 1950s.

Biography

Breakston was the son of French-born Jacqueline DuVal.[3] He first entered the entertainment world by working in radio as a child actor from 1930. Hs came to the notice of Hollywood and appeared in a variety of films.[4] He made his stage debut in A Midsummer Night's Dream and made his motion picture debut in It Happened One Night (1934).

During World War II he was commissioned in the US Army Signal Corps through Officers Candidate School[5] then served in the Pacific War as a photographer. When the war ended Breakston remained in Japan.

He reentered the civilian film world by co-writing, producing, directing and starring in Urubu: The Vulture People filmed in location in the Mato Grosso, Brazil. He followed it up with the documentary African Stampede filmed in the Belgian Congo and Kenya where he would later make his home.

Returning to Japan, Breakston co-produced and wrote Tokyo File 212 a 1951 American film credited as Hollywood's first feature film totally filmed in Japan.[6] He followed it up by filming and directing Oriental Evil (1951) and Geisha Girl (1952) in Japan. He had planned a film, which according to Los Angeles Times had interested Errol Flynn.[7]

Breakston moved to Kenya filming several safari adventure feature films The Scarlet Spear, Golden Ivory, Escape in the Sun, and Woman and the Hunter. Many of these featured John Bentley who starred in a television series produced by Breakston and filmed in Kenya, African Patrol. Breakston also filmed another series in Kenya Adventures of a Jungle Boy (1957) and planned a third Trader Horn.[8]

Breakston joined the horror bandwagon by making The Manster in 1959[9] back in Japan, then made several films in Yugoslavia.

He died in Paris on May 21, 1973.

Selected filmography

References

  1. Web site: George Breakston. https://web.archive.org/web/20161225215305/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f27af8a. dead. December 25, 2016. British Film Institute. September 21, 2016.
  2. Web site: Overview for George Breakston. Turner Classic Movies.
  3. . Oakland Tribune Oakland, California 01 Sep 1935, Sun Page 77
  4. Obituary Variety 30 May 1973
  5. Web site: World War II Signal OCS. Army Signal OCS. September 21, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161225220649/http://www.armysignalocs.com/ww2/42_09.html. December 25, 2016. dead.
  6. Book: Edwards, Paul M.. A Guide to Films on the Korean War. 1997. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-30316-6. 103.
  7. News: Schallert. Edwin. Flynn, Marley Named for New Nippon Venture. Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1950. Los Angeles, California. B13.
  8. Billboard. Assoc. British Buys 'African'. 3 February 1958. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. 9. 0006-2510.
  9. Web site: 双頭の殺人鬼 : 作品情報 .
  10. Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. .
  11. Web site: Press Book. New York University. September 21, 2016.

Further reading

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