Biography
Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. He was born in Los Angeles, a younger brother of actor Charles Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a dozen or so silent films, on occasion with Charles Chaplin. In 1917, he turned his attention to directing, making more than 50 mostly forgettable films — including a silent film version of Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence (1924) — before he won acclaim with Cimarron in 1931. The adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel Cimarron, about homesteaders settling in the prairies of Oklahoma, was the first Western to win an Academy Award as Best Picture. Although Ruggles followed this success with the light comedy No Man of Her Own (1932) with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, the comedy I'm No Angel (1933) with Mae West and Cary Grant , College Humor (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Bolero (1934) with George Raft and Carole Lombard, few of his later films were in any way memorable (an exception is Arizona). His career was on the downslide when he teamed with the Rank Organisation in 1946 to produce and direct London Town with Sid Field and Petula Clark, based on a story he wrote. The film — British cinema's first attempt at a Technicolor musical extravaganza — is notable as being one of the biggest critical and commercial failures in that country's film history. Ironically, Ruggles had been hired to helm it because as an American, it was thought, he was better equipped to handle a musical — despite the fact that nothing in his past had prepared him to work in the genre. It was his last film. An abridged version was released in the U.S. under the title My Heart Goes Crazy by United Artists in 1953. Ruggles died in 1972 in Santa Monica and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wesley Ruggles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Directed 58
1940s
- 1946
London Town
Director
- 1944
See Here, Private Hargrove
Director
- 1943
Slightly Dangerous
Director
- 1942
Somewhere I'll Find You
Director
- 1941
- 1940
Too Many Husbands
Director
1930s
- 1939
Invitation to Happiness
Director
- 1938
Sing, You Sinners
Director
- 1937
True Confession
Director
I Met Him in Paris
Director
- 1936
Valiant Is the Word for Carrie
Director
- 1935
The Bride Comes Home
Director
Accent on Youth
Director
Mississippi
Co-Director
The Gilded Lily
Director
- 1934
Shoot the Works
Director
Bolero
Director
- 1933
I'm No Angel
Director
College Humor
Director
The Monkey's Paw
Director
- 1932
No Man of Her Own
Director
Roar of the Dragon
Director
- 1931
Are These Our Children?
Director
- 1930
The Sea Bat
Director
Honey
Director
1920s
- 1929
Condemned!
Director
Street Girl
Director
Girl Overboard
Director
Scandal
Director
The Cross Country Run
Director
- 1928
Finders Keepers
Director
- 1927
Silk Stockings
Director
Beware of Widows
Director
Flashing Oars
Director
The Cinder Path
Director
The Relay
Director
- 1926
The Collegians
Director
Hooked at the Altar
Director
- 1925
A Broadway Lady
Director
- 1924
The Age of Innocence
Director
- 1923
Slippy McGee
Director
The Heart Raider
Director
The Remittance Woman
Director
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime
Director
- 1922
If I Were Queen
Director
Wild Honey
Director
- 1921
Over the Wire
Director
Uncharted Seas
Director
- 1920
Love
Director
The Leopard Woman
Director
The Desperate Hero
Director
Sooner or Later
Director
1910s
- 1919
Piccadilly Jim
Director
- 1917
For France
Director
Outcast
Assistant Director
Acted in 14
1910s
- 1918
Triple Trouble
Crook
- 1917
Her Torpedoed Love
Messenger Inside the House
- 1916
The Pawnshop
Ring Client (uncredited)
Beatrice Fairfax
#15 Wristwatches
Police
Jailbird and Thief
The Floorwalker
Policeman (uncredited)
- 1915
A Submarine Pirate
His accomplice / Sub Officer
Her Painted Hero
Effeminate Party Guest (uncredited)
A Lover's Lost Control
Shoe Clerk
Gussle's Wayward Path
Clergyman
Produced 13
1940s
- 1946
London Town
Producer
- 1941
- 1940
Too Many Husbands
Producer
1930s
- 1939
Invitation to Happiness
Producer
- 1938
Sing, You Sinners
Producer
- 1937
I Met Him in Paris
Producer
- 1936
Valiant Is the Word for Carrie
Producer
- 1935
The Bride Comes Home
Producer
- 1931
- 1930
The Sea Bat
Producer
1920s
- 1929
Street Girl
Producer
Wrote 3
1940s
- 1946
London Town
Story
- 1942
Somewhere I'll Find You
Writer
1930s
- 1931
Are These Our Children?
Story
Appearances1
1920s
- 1920
A Trip Through the World's Greatest Motion Picture Studios
Himself