| Jean Yarbrough | |
| Occupation: | Film director |
| Birth Date: | 22 August 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Marianna, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Jean Yarbrough (August 22, 1900 - August 2, 1975) was an American film director.
Jean Yarbrough was born in Marianna, Arkansas on August 22, 1900. He attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. In 1922, Yarbrough entered the film business working in silent pictures, first as a "prop man" and later rising through the ranks to become an assistant director.[1]
By 1936, he became a director, first doing comedy and musical shorts for RKO. His directorial debut for a feature-length film was Rebellious Daughters, made by the low-budget studio Progressive Pictures in 1938.
His success came in the 1940s and 1950s when he directed comedy teams like Abbott and Costello (five films: Here Come the Co-Eds, In Society, Jack and the Beanstalk, Lost in Alaska, and The Naughty Nineties), The Bowery Boys (five films: Angels in Disguise, Master Minds, Triple Trouble, Crashing Las Vegas, and Hot Shots) and horror/cult movies, such as The Devil Bat, King of the Zombies, She-Wolf of London, and House of Horrors.
Yarbrough made the transition from B-movies to television. He directed many episodes for different TV series throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to directing, he worked as both producer and director of the popular Abbott and Costello Show. He directed some episodes of The Silent Service and Navy Log, also during the 1950s.