William Beaudine, the director of nearly 350 known films . At the time of his retirement in 1967, William Beaudine was the oldest active director in Hollywood. He died in Canoga Park, CA, on March 18, 1970, with a record so prolific that it's unlikely to be ever matched again. In 2005 the "labor of love" brought into the world by William Beaudine and Kroger Babb, two of Hollywood's most prolific sons, was honored by the Library of Congress' National Film Registry with the inclusion of "Mom and Dad" on the list of the nation's cinematic treasures.
First cousin of editor Chester W. Schaeffer.
Brother of director Harold Beaudine.
Father of William Beaudine Jr.
Beaudine worked almost exclusively on low-budget quickies and was an efficient workman who could churn out films and television episodes on time and in budget.
He directed over half of the Bowery Boys films.
He became a master of the technique of "editing in the camera." Instead of shooting full coverage of scenes, he would shoot only what he knew was absolutely necessary. This saved both production time and raw stock, an important factor at the Poverty Row studios where he worked.
In 1947 Beaudine was hired to direct a religious-themed film for the Protestant Film Commission. It was successful and they were so impressed with his work they hired him on a regular basis, and from 1947 to 1955 he directed 10 more films for the organization--an evangelical Christian group--all of which were designed to spread the word of God and try to convert non-believers to Christianity. Ironically, Beaudine himself was an atheist.
He and director James Flood had been friends since they grew up as children in the same neighborhood in New York City. In fact, Floods wife was the sister of Beaudines wife.
Father of Helen Beaudine , Margaret Beaudine.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Special Collections houses the William Beaudine Collection. The collection, which covers Beaudines career from 1912 to 1973, encompasses 5.8 linear feet of documents and other items, including scripts (motion picture, television, and unproduced); scrapbooks and loose clippings; correspondence; contracts; photographs; and books and periodicals. There are scripts for 54 of Beaudines feature films and 27 of his television episodes. Items of particular interest include two original caricature sketches of Beaudine; several files of his directing contracts from 1916 through 1934; "Bill Beaudines Box Score," a nine-page typed list prepared by Beaudine of his directing credits from 1915 through 1969; two issues of "Film Follies" (the Christie Film Company house organ), five issues of the "Kalem Kalendar", and five "Biograph Bulletins" from 1912 and 1914. The collection was donated to AMPAS by William Beaudine Jr. and Lucille Beaudine Warden in February 1992.
Uncle of Robert J. Anderson.
Grandfather of Skip Beaudine.
Contrary to popular opinion, he was never nicknamed "One-Shot" during his lifetime. The nickname was given to him years after his death and is actually inaccurate, as he did in fact shoot retakes when absolutely necessary.
William Beaudines filmography includes two theatrical-release films he did not direct---"Fury of the Dragon" and "The Green Hornet" ---for two reasons: He died in 1970 and both of these films were compiled and crunched together from television episodes of a series, after his death. Consequently, those are Archive Footage...and while the actors correctly have Archive Footage as an attribute, the site rules dictate that crew people can not be so tagged...consequently , Mr. Beaudine, incorrectly, gets double-dipping directing credit he already had for the series episodes. The only person who deserves a crew credit on those two "movies" would be the unknown in-house editor who spliced-and-crunched the Archive Footage.
[when informed that a Monogram quickie he was working on was falling,behind schedule] You mean someone out there is actually waiting to see,THIS?,[on his career slide from top-ranked director in the 1920s and 1930s to,working on Poverty Row "B"--and lower--quickies in the 1940s] A couple,of producers told me I was washed up. But making movies is what I do.
