Maurice "Tourneur" Félix Thomas (French pronunciation: ​[mÉ"Ê is
feliks tÉ"ma], [- tuÊ nÅ"Ê ]; 2 February 1876 â€" 4 August 1961) was a
French film director and screenwriter.Born Maurice Thomas in the
Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a
wholesaler. As a young man, Maurice Thomas first trained as a graphic
designer and a magazine illustrator but was soon drawn to the theater.
In 1904, he married the actress, Fernande Petit. They had a son,
Jacques (1904â€"1977), who would follow his father into the film
industry.Using the stage name Maurice Tourneur, he began his show
business career performing in secondary roles on stage and eventually
toured England and South America as part of the theater company for
the great star Gabrielle Réjane. Drawn to the new art of filmmaking,
in 1911 he began working as an assistant director for the Éclair
company. A quick learner and an innovator, within a short time he was
directing films on his own using major French stars of the day such as
Polaire.In 1914, with the expansion of the giant French film companies
into the United States market, Tourneur moved to New York City to
direct silent films for Éclair's American branch studio in Fort Lee,
New Jersey before moving to William A. Brady's World Film Corporation,
where he directed important early American feature-length films such
as The Wishing Ring, Alias Jimmy Valentine, The Cub (Martha Hedman's
only screen performance) and Trilby, the last starring Clara Kimball
Young and noted stage actor Wilton Lackaye as Svengali. Before long,
Maurice Tourneur was a major and respected force in American film and
a founding member of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture
Directors Association. As the feature film evolved in the mid 1910s,
he and his team (comprising screenwriter Charles Maigne, art director
Ben Carré, and cameramen John van den Broek and Lucien Andriot)
coupled exceptional technological skill with unique pictorial and
architectural sensibilities in their productions, giving their films a
visual distinctiveness that met with critical acclaim.
feliks tÉ"ma], [- tuÊ nÅ"Ê ]; 2 February 1876 â€" 4 August 1961) was a
French film director and screenwriter.Born Maurice Thomas in the
Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a
wholesaler. As a young man, Maurice Thomas first trained as a graphic
designer and a magazine illustrator but was soon drawn to the theater.
In 1904, he married the actress, Fernande Petit. They had a son,
Jacques (1904â€"1977), who would follow his father into the film
industry.Using the stage name Maurice Tourneur, he began his show
business career performing in secondary roles on stage and eventually
toured England and South America as part of the theater company for
the great star Gabrielle Réjane. Drawn to the new art of filmmaking,
in 1911 he began working as an assistant director for the Éclair
company. A quick learner and an innovator, within a short time he was
directing films on his own using major French stars of the day such as
Polaire.In 1914, with the expansion of the giant French film companies
into the United States market, Tourneur moved to New York City to
direct silent films for Éclair's American branch studio in Fort Lee,
New Jersey before moving to William A. Brady's World Film Corporation,
where he directed important early American feature-length films such
as The Wishing Ring, Alias Jimmy Valentine, The Cub (Martha Hedman's
only screen performance) and Trilby, the last starring Clara Kimball
Young and noted stage actor Wilton Lackaye as Svengali. Before long,
Maurice Tourneur was a major and respected force in American film and
a founding member of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture
Directors Association. As the feature film evolved in the mid 1910s,
he and his team (comprising screenwriter Charles Maigne, art director
Ben Carré, and cameramen John van den Broek and Lucien Andriot)
coupled exceptional technological skill with unique pictorial and
architectural sensibilities in their productions, giving their films a
visual distinctiveness that met with critical acclaim.
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