American director and screenwriter born in Los Angeles, California. He began his career as a screenwriter in 1920, after which he started catching attention in the early 1930s with films such as Her Man (1930) and One Way Passage (1932). His most notable films as a director include China Seas (1935), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1948). He died on 3 October 1977 in California, at age 83.