Legendary "B" picture director Sam Newfield was born Samuel Neufeld in New York City. His brother was 'Sigmund Neufeld' because of cheaper production costs. Sam Newfield finally retired from the film industry in 1958 and died in Los Angeles in 1964.
Uncle of director Sigmund Neufeld Jr..
Brother of Sigmund Neufeld , head of PRC Studios.
Father of Jackie Newfield , Joel Newfield.
Generally considered to be the most prolific film director (as opposed to cartoon director) in the history of American cinema, with estimates of his output in the 300+ range over a career that began in the silent era and lasted until the late 1950s. He directed industrial promotional one-reelers, two-reel training films and comedy shorts, TV series episodes, full-length features, TV series episodes that were padded into full-length features, and pretty much anything anyone would pay him for. He used a plethora of different names in addition to his own, and newly discovered credits--often shorts from the mid to late 1920s--are being added to his filmography to this day.
In an interview, his nephew Sigmund Neufeld Jr. stated that Sam suffered from a serious gambling addiction for most of his life, which kept him virtually penniless most of the time and eventually caused the break-up of his marriage. When he finally retired after 30+ years making movies, he was so broke that his brother Sigmund Neufeld paid off his gambling debts and set him up in an apartment in Hollywood, seeing that his bills were paid and that he had enough money to live on.
He met his wife, Violet McComas , when she was a script supervisor on one of his films.
Secretary of Producers Releasing Corp., a "B" production company in the 1930s and 1940s.
Co-founder (w/Bert Sternbach ) / Secretary-Treasurer of S&N Productions, a "B" production company in the 1940s.
Directed Buster Crabbe in 40 films.
