Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 406-411. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Directed 9 actors to Oscar nominations: Gloria Swanson (Best Actress, The Trespasser (1929)), Nancy Carroll (Best Actress, The Devil's Holiday (1930)), Fay Bainter (Best Actress, White Banners (1938)), Bette Davis (Best Actress, Dark Victory (1939)), Mary Astor (Best Supporting Actress, The Great Lie (1941)), Joan Fontaine (Best Actress, The Constant Nymph (1943)), Anne Baxter (Best Supporting Actress, The Razor's Edge (1946)), Clifton Webb (Best Supporting Actor, The Razor's Edge (1946)), and Edmund Gwenn (Best Supporting Actor,
Former stage actor. Wounded in World War I and emigrated to the United States.
He married his wife very quickly after learning that she was dying from tuberculosis.
He wrote a screenplay specifically for Joan Crawford, entitled "Never Goodbye", however she rejected the part. In response to his reaction, she said, "What are you bitching for? You got your fifty thousand dollars for writing the damn thing".
His wife was so small she had to have her shoes specially made.
His wife, Marjorie Violet Moss, was born in 1893 in London. She was part of a vaudeville dance act during her younger years.