James Whale Early Life Beginnings In The Theatre Hollywood

Born in Dudley, England, the sixth of the seven children of a blast furnaceA blast furnace is a type of furnace for smelting whereby the combustion material and ore are supplied with air in the centre of the chamber such that the chemical reaction does not take place only at the surface. Typically this is used for the productionman and a nurseIn the health care professions, a nurse is someone who practices nursing professionally. Nurses are responsible (with others) for the safety and recovery of acutely ill or injured people, health maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatenin. He was thought not strong enough to follow his brothers into the local heavy industries and started work as a cobblerCobbler may mean: a person who makes and repairs shoes and boots for a living. See also Shoemaking cobbler apron, an apron of a design that is reminiscient of a garment traditionally worn by cobblers. The Cobbler", the common name given to Ben Arthur in S. He realised some talent for signwriting and used his additional income to pay for evening classes at the Dudley School of Arts and Crafts.

In October 1915Events January 12 The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of Congress. January 12 United States House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote. January 13 An earthquake (6. 8 in Richter scale) in Avezzano, Ital, World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of underway, he enlisted for the Army and was commissioned second lieutenant. He was taken a prisoner of warGeneva Convention Definition A prisoner of war (POW is a soldier who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The laws apply from the moment a prisoner is captured until he is released or repatriated. One of the main in August 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- and, while imprisoned, discovered a talent to staging theatrical productions.

2 Beginnings in the theatre

After the armistice he returned to Birmingham and embarked on a professional stage career. In 1928 he was offered the opportunity to direct two fringe performances of R. C. Sherriff 's, then unknown, play Journey's End starring the young, and hardly better known, Laurence Olivier. The play was a remarkable success and transfered to the West End where it played for 600 performances. Whale was invited to direct the transfer to Broadway and a Hollywood film version.

3 Hollywood career

Whale was best known for his work in the horror genre, making such momentous and iconic pictures as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. Universal Pictures owed its stellar success in the 30s much in part to the huge box-office reciepts of these three blockbusters. Further, these pictures established the screen careers of Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, Una Merkel, and Claude Rains to name a few; most of whom Whale had known previously in England and had personally selected for their roles in his films. Whale was also responsible for such major films as Waterloo Bridge, Show Boat, and The Man in the Iron Mask. Whale directed The Road Back in 1937, starring Richard Cromwell and Noah Beery, Jr. It was the ill-fated remake to All Quiet on the Western Front. Much to Whale's protest, The Road Back was re-cut and shortened to the studio's liking before it was released, and then when it (not surprisingly) fared poorly at the box-office, Universal declined to renew Whale's contract.

Despite being repressed into maintaining a degree of secrecy, Whale was a well-known homosexual. Many suggest that there are homosexual themes and discourses in his motion pictures and as a result his biographies are considered noteworthy in gay and lesbian studies.

He was a very gentle man and while eventually joining the military, he placed the value of human life above patriotism. Whale procrastinated from sending his men over the top of their trench and into No Man's Land for a long time and was successful in saving their lives.

Whale is the subject of the novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram, which was the basis for the 1998 film Gods and Monsters. The film, which won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, starred Ian McKellen as Whale. A biography of Whale has been written by Mark Gatiss and titled 'James Whale: A Biography' (or 'James Whale: the would-be gentleman').

In his last days, Whale experienced difficulty with his memory due to a debilitating stroke. He became lonely and suffered from depression and had difficulty putting the war behind him. He committed suicide by drowning himself in his swimming pool on May 29, 1957. As his suicide note was originally withheld (and first published in James Curtis's biography of the director), circumstances of his death were not known until years later.

A memorial statue was erected for Whale in 2002 in the grounds of a new multiplex cinema of his home town, Dudley. The statue depicts a roll of film with the face of Frankenstein's monster engraved into the cells and the names of his most famous films etched into the film-tin shaped base-stone.

4 Filmography

Journey's End (1930)
Waterloo Bridge (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Impatient Maiden (1932)
The Old Dark House (1932)
The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933)
The Invisible Man (1933)
By Candlelight (1933)
One More River (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Show Boat (1936)
The Road Back (1937)
The Great Garrick (1937)
Sinners in Paradise (1938)
Wives Under Suspicion (1938)
Port of Seven Seas (1938)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
Green Hell (1940)
They Dare Not Love (1941)

Whale, James Whale, James Whale, James Whale, James

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Home > James Whale

1 Early life

2 Beginnings in the theatre

3 Hollywood career

4 Filmography

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