Richard Whorf (June 4, 1906 – December 14, 1966 in Santa Monica, Calif.) was an American actor, author, director, and designer.
Born in
Winthrop, MassachusettsThe Town of Winthrop is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although known as a town, Winthrop adopted a home rule charter in 2005 with a council-manager form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population of Winthrop was 18,303 at the 2000 census...
, Whorf began his acting career on the Boston stage as a teenager then moving to
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
when he was 21. Early on, he was in a production of
Taming of the Shrew at the
Globe TheatreThe Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 203-217 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse,...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He moved to Hollywood and became a contract player in movies of the 1930s and 1940s before becoming a director in 1944.
Whorf appeared in
Christmas HolidayChristmas Holiday is a 1944 drama directed by Robert Siodmak. The black-and-white film noir is loosely based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Producer Felix Jackson chose this project as a dramatic vehicle for Deanna Durbin. The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who counted it among...
(1944),
Blues in the NightBlues in the Night is musical film released by Warner Brothers, directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Priscilla Lane, Richard Whorf, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan, Elia Kazan, and Jack Carson. The project began filming with the working title Hot Nocturne but was eventually named after its principal...
(1941),
Yankee Doodle DandyYankee Doodle Dandy is a biographical musical film about George M. Cohan , the actor / singer / dancer / playwright / songwriter / producer / theatre owner / director / choreographer known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway", starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston and Richard Whorf, and...
(1942), and
Keeper of the FlameKeeper of the Flame is a dramatic film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Hepburn plays the widow of a famous civic leader who, prior to his death, had secretly planned a coup d'état against the government of the United States...
(1942).
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Richard Whorf (June 4, 1906 – December 14, 1966 in Santa Monica, Calif.) was an American actor, author, director, and designer.
Born in
Winthrop, MassachusettsThe Town of Winthrop is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although known as a town, Winthrop adopted a home rule charter in 2005 with a council-manager form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population of Winthrop was 18,303 at the 2000 census...
, Whorf began his acting career on the Boston stage as a teenager then moving to
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
when he was 21. Early on, he was in a production of
Taming of the Shrew at the
Globe TheatreThe Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 203-217 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse,...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He moved to Hollywood and became a contract player in movies of the 1930s and 1940s before becoming a director in 1944.
Whorf appeared in
Christmas HolidayChristmas Holiday is a 1944 drama directed by Robert Siodmak. The black-and-white film noir is loosely based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Producer Felix Jackson chose this project as a dramatic vehicle for Deanna Durbin. The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who counted it among...
(1944),
Blues in the NightBlues in the Night is musical film released by Warner Brothers, directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Priscilla Lane, Richard Whorf, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan, Elia Kazan, and Jack Carson. The project began filming with the working title Hot Nocturne but was eventually named after its principal...
(1941),
Yankee Doodle DandyYankee Doodle Dandy is a biographical musical film about George M. Cohan , the actor / singer / dancer / playwright / songwriter / producer / theatre owner / director / choreographer known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway", starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston and Richard Whorf, and...
(1942), and
Keeper of the FlameKeeper of the Flame is a dramatic film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Hepburn plays the widow of a famous civic leader who, prior to his death, had secretly planned a coup d'état against the government of the United States...
(1942). He directed a number of television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, the best known being the CBS hit comedy
The Beverly HillbilliesThe Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom. It ranked among the top 12 most watched series on television for seven of its nine seasons, twice ranking as the #1 series of the year, with a number of episodes that remain among the most-watched television episodes of all time...
. He also directed the short-lived 1959
syndicatedIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is scheduled by networks with local affiliates, particularly in the United States...
adventureAn adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. The term is more popularly used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports...
series,
Border PatrolBorder Patrol is a 34-episode syndicated half-hour adventure/drama television series which aired in the United States during calendar year 1959, with Richard Webb cast as Don Jagger, the fictitious deputy chief of the Border Patrol...
, and the 1964-1965
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
sitcom,
MickeyMickey is a 17-episode situation comedy starring Mickey Rooney as Mickey Grady, the owner of the luxury Newport Arms Hotel in Newport Beach, California, which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964, to January 13, 1965...
starring
Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. During his career he has won multiple awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
.
Whorf directed a 1961 comedy stage play
Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe, the Broadway show closed after only one performance at the
Booth TheatreThe Booth Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City....
.
Whorf's hobby was painting -- he sold his first painting at age 15 for US$100. Many of his small town landscape paintings reflected his American worldview and seemed to be inspired by painters like
Grant WoodGrant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born in Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his father died in...
and
Norman RockwellNorman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four...
. In the 17 March 1963
TV Channels syndicated
rotogravureRotogravure is a type of intaglio printing process, in that it involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a copper cylinder because, like offset and flexography, it uses a rotary printing press. The vast majority of gravure presses print...
newspaper magazine, his painting career was profiled and his studio photographed. For the article, he told a reporter, "Who says that a man has to do one thing?"