Howard Hawks (May 30, 1896 - December 26, 1977) is an american director, producer, writer of the Classic Hollywood Era.

He was born Howard Winchester Hawks in Goshen, Indiana.

Hawks was known for his versatility as a director, filming comedies, dramas, and Westerns with equal ease and skill. Critic Leonard Maltin has labelled Hawks "the greatest American director who is not a household name," noting that, while his work may not be as well known as Ford, Welles, or Hitchcock, he is no less a talented filmmaker.

He died in Palm Springs, California, from the aftermath of a fall.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Howard Hawks has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.

Hawks was notorious for fabricating stories about the movie business, usually in a way which inflated his already considerable contributions to it. One such story has it that Hawks told Ernest Hemingway that he could make a good movie out of the worst thing that Hemingway had ever written, at which point Hemingway challenged him to make a movie out of To Have and Have Not.

Filmography (director)

• Rio Lobo (1970)
• El Dorado (1966)
• Red Line 7000 (1965)
• Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
• Hatari! (1962)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• O. Henry's Full House (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief") (1952)
• Monkey Business (1952)
• The Big Sky (1952)
• The Thing From Another World (1951) (uncredited)
• I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
• A Song Is Born (1948)
• Red River (1948)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• To Have and Have Not (1944)
• The Outlaw (1943) (uncredited)
• Air Force (1943)
• Ball of Fire (1941)
• Sergeant York (1941)
• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)
• Come and Get It (1936)
• The Road to Glory (1936)
• Sutter's Gold (1936) (uncredited)
• Ceiling Zero (1936)
• Barbary Coast (1935)
• Twentieth Century (1934)
• Viva Villa! (1934) (uncredited)
• The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) (uncredited)
• Today We Live (1933)
• Tiger Shark (1932)
• The Crowd Roars (1932)
• Scarface (1932)
• La Foule hurle (1932)
• The Criminal Code (1931)
• The Dawn Patrol (1930)
• Trent's Last Case (1929)
• The Air Circus (1928)
• Fazil (1928)
• A Girl in Every Port (1928)
• Paid to Love (1927)
• The Cradle Snatchers (1927)
• Fig Leaves (1926)
• The Road to Glory (1926)

Books

• Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, Todd MacCarthy (Grove Press, 1997)
• Howard Hawks: American Artist, Jim Hillier , Peter Wollen (British Film Institute, 1997)
• Hawks by Hawks, Joseph MacBride (University of California Press, 1982)

External links

• IMDB: Howard Hawks

See also: Other notable figures in Western films