Fred M. Wilcox(1907-1964)
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Fred McLeod Wilcox was born in Tazewell, VA, on December 22,
1906, one of six children born to James Wilcox, a Kentucky optometrist
and drugstore owner, who was married six times (twice to one woman). His
six children were from his first wife.
Wilcox's six siblings (his father adopted his niece after the death of
his sister in 1912) included actress
Ruth Selwyn (born Ruth Wilcox), who was
married to producer / director / writer / playwright
Edgar Selwyn, one of the founders of
Goldwyn Pictures, and former showgirl Pansy Wilcox Schenck
(Pansy Schenck), who
was married to Loew's Inc. President Nicholas M. Schenck, one of the
pioneers of the film industry. Pansy Schenck was the mother-in-law of
actor Helmut Dantine, with whom Wilcox
worked on a film in India in 1962.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Wilcox began his
film-industry career at MGM in its New York publicity
department. He became an assistant to
King Vidor in 1929, and worked on the great
director's masterpiece,
Hallelujah (1929). Subsequently he
worked as a director shooting screen tests of new talent, then served
an apprenticeship as an assistant director on three of his
brother-in-law Edgar Selwyn's pictures. He
also was an assistant- and second-unit director on two more films
before moving to the short subjects unit in 1938.
After working his way up through the MGM shorts department, he got his shot as a feature
director in 1943 with
Lassie Come Home (1943), a
classic family film that was enshrined on the National Film
Preservation Board's National Film Registry in 1993. He also helmed
the two sequels,
Courage of Lassie (1946) and
Hills of Home (1948). He had a
sure hand with child actors, directing
Margaret O'Brien in one of her
most well-received pictures,
The Secret Garden (1949). After
directing some pictures for the studio's "B" unit, he made one more memorable
film--the classic sci-fi epic
Forbidden Planet (1956)--before
leaving MGM in 1957 to become an independent producer/director.
However, he only made one more film, a miscegenation tale called
I Passed for White (1960),
which he directed, produced and co-wrote. It starred
James Franciscus and is most notable as
the first American film for which five-time Oscar winner
John Williams wrote the score.
Fred Wilcox died on September 23, 1964, in Beverly Hills, CA, survived
by his son, Ron.
1906, one of six children born to James Wilcox, a Kentucky optometrist
and drugstore owner, who was married six times (twice to one woman). His
six children were from his first wife.
Wilcox's six siblings (his father adopted his niece after the death of
his sister in 1912) included actress
Ruth Selwyn (born Ruth Wilcox), who was
married to producer / director / writer / playwright
Edgar Selwyn, one of the founders of
Goldwyn Pictures, and former showgirl Pansy Wilcox Schenck
(Pansy Schenck), who
was married to Loew's Inc. President Nicholas M. Schenck, one of the
pioneers of the film industry. Pansy Schenck was the mother-in-law of
actor Helmut Dantine, with whom Wilcox
worked on a film in India in 1962.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Wilcox began his
film-industry career at MGM in its New York publicity
department. He became an assistant to
King Vidor in 1929, and worked on the great
director's masterpiece,
Hallelujah (1929). Subsequently he
worked as a director shooting screen tests of new talent, then served
an apprenticeship as an assistant director on three of his
brother-in-law Edgar Selwyn's pictures. He
also was an assistant- and second-unit director on two more films
before moving to the short subjects unit in 1938.
After working his way up through the MGM shorts department, he got his shot as a feature
director in 1943 with
Lassie Come Home (1943), a
classic family film that was enshrined on the National Film
Preservation Board's National Film Registry in 1993. He also helmed
the two sequels,
Courage of Lassie (1946) and
Hills of Home (1948). He had a
sure hand with child actors, directing
Margaret O'Brien in one of her
most well-received pictures,
The Secret Garden (1949). After
directing some pictures for the studio's "B" unit, he made one more memorable
film--the classic sci-fi epic
Forbidden Planet (1956)--before
leaving MGM in 1957 to become an independent producer/director.
However, he only made one more film, a miscegenation tale called
I Passed for White (1960),
which he directed, produced and co-wrote. It starred
James Franciscus and is most notable as
the first American film for which five-time Oscar winner
John Williams wrote the score.
Fred Wilcox died on September 23, 1964, in Beverly Hills, CA, survived
by his son, Ron.