Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.
Born Henri Leonard de Fiennes in Sacramento, California, he was the son of American actor and stage manager, Rhody Hathaway (1868-1944) and a Hungarian-born Belgian aristocrat, Marquise Lillie de Fiennes (1876-1938) who acted under the name, Jean Hathaway. This branch of the de...
more
Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.
Born Henri Leonard de Fiennes in Sacramento, California, he was the son of American actor and stage manager, Rhody Hathaway (1868-1944) and a Hungarian-born Belgian aristocrat, Marquise Lillie de Fiennes (1876-1938) who acted under the name, Jean Hathaway. This branch of the de Fiennes family came to America in the 1800s on behalf of King Leopold I of Belgium and was part of the negotiations with the former Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Rogier (1800-1885) to secure the 1862 treaty between Belgium and what was then known as the Sandwich Islands but is now called Hawaii.
In 1925, Hathaway began working in silent films as an assistant to notable directors such as Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg and made the transition to sound with them. He was the assistant director to Fred Niblo in the acclaimed 1925 version...
less
