Ella O'Neill (screenwriter)

Last updated
Ella O'Neill
OccupationScreenwriter
Years active1931–1938

Ella O'Neill was an American screenwriter who penned B movies and serials at Universal in the 1930s. [1] [2] [3] She worked primarily in the action, Western, and detective genres. [4] She had been a practicing attorney in Chicago before she became a serial writer, and she was noted as a language expert. [5]

B movie Low budget commercial film genre

A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not an arthouse film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature. Although the U.S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continues to be used in its broader sense to this day. In its post-Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides of the definition: on the one hand, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient; on the other, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity.

Universal Pictures Major U.S. film studio owned by Comcast

Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States, the world's fifth oldest after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus, and Nordisk Film, and the oldest member of Hollywood's "Big Five" studios in terms of the overall film market. Its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City.

Selected filmography

Flaming Frontiers (1938) is a Universal movie serial starring Johnny Mack Brown. It was a remake of Heroes of the West (1932). It was re-edited into a TV series in 1966. Much of the material was reused in Lon Chaney Jr.'s 1942 serial Overland Mail.

<i>The Phantom Rider</i> (Universal serial) 1936 film by Ray Taylor

The Phantom Rider is a 1936 Universal movie serial directed by Ray Taylor and starring Buck Jones and Marla Shelton.

<i>Flash Gordon</i> (serial) 1936 film serial

Flash Gordon is a 1936 science-fiction film serial. Presented in 13 chapters, it is the first screen adventure for Flash Gordon, the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon's visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon portray the film's central characters. In 1996, Flash Gordon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Related Research Articles

Walter Brennan American actor

Walter Andrew Brennan was an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936, 1938, and 1940, making him one of only three male actors to win three Academy Awards.

Tailspin Tommy was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins. Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and then by United Feature Syndicate, the strip had a 14-year run from May 21, 1928 to March 15, 1942.

Tom London American actor

Tom London was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to The Guinness Book of Movie Records, London is credited with appearing in the most films in the history of Hollywood, this according to the 2001 book Film Facts, where it states that the performer who played in the most films was "Tom London, who made his first of over 2,000 appearances in The Great Train Robbery, 1903, although his filmography on the IMDb website credits him with 654 appearances in film and TV.

Tom Tyler actor

Tom Tyler was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films in the silent and sound eras, and for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the 1941 serial film The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Tyler also played the mummy in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular Universal Studios monster film.

Jean Rogers actress

Jean Rogers was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for playing Dale Arden in the science fiction serials Flash Gordon (1936) and Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938).

Charles Middleton (actor) American actor

Charles B. Middleton was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well as numerous plays. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as the villainous emperor Ming the Merciless in the three Flash Gordon serials made between 1936 and 1940.

Mascot Pictures Corporation was an American film company of the 1920s and 1930s best known for producing and distributing film serials and B-westerns. Mascot was formed in 1927 by film producer Nat Levine. In 1936 it merged with several other companies to form Republic Pictures.

Richard Alexander (actor) actor

Richard Alexander was an American film character actor.

Wheeler Oakman American actor

Wheeler Vivian Oakman was an American film actor.

Earl Dwire actor

Earl Dwire, born Earl Dean Dwire, was an American character actor who appeared in more than 150 movies between 1921 and his death in 1940. Noted for his almost frightening long face, Dwire worked mainly as a villain in westerns, including Riders of Destiny (1933) with John Wayne in the first singing cowboy movie and The Trail Beyond (1934) opposite Wayne, Noah Beery, Sr., and Noah Beery, Jr. He also appeared in Bob Steele vehicles such as Alias John Law (1935).

Harry Woods (actor) American actor

Harry Woods was an American film actor.

George Cleveland American actor

George Alan Cleveland was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954.

Edmund Cobb American actor

Edmund Fessenden Cobb was an American actor. He appeared in 623 films between 1912 and 1966.

William Desmond (actor) American actor

William Desmond was an American actor. He appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed "The King of the Silent Serials."

Theodore Lorch American actor

Theodore Lorch was an American film actor. He appeared in 146 films between 1908 and 1947.

William Gould was a Canadian-American film actor. He appeared in more than 240 films during his career. In films, Gould portrayed Jed Scott, a leader of homesteaders, in the serial The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939) and Air Marshal Kragg in the serial Buck Rogers (1939).

Shirley Grey American actress

Shirley Grey was an American actress. She appeared in 46 films between 1930 and 1935.

Richard Fryer, born Morris Kolsky, was a British-born Hollywood cinematographer.

Patricia Farr was an American film actress who appeared in films of the 1930s and 1940s. Despite being billed as leading lady in at least one of the films in which she appeared, very few details of her life are available.

Maurice Murphy (1913–1978) was an American film actor. Initially a child actor, he graduated to playing older roles, often in action films. Early film appearances included in Stella Dallas and as the young Beau Geste in the 1926 film. In 1934 he played the title role in the Universal Pictures serial Tailspin Tommy.

References

  1. ↑ Cline, William C. (1997-12-01). In the Nick of Time: Motion Picture Sound Serials. McFarland. ISBN   9780786404711.
  2. ↑ "8 Apr 1934, Page 93 - The Salt Lake Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  3. ↑ "27 Mar 1932, 39 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  4. ↑ "14 Jul 1935, 37 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  5. ↑ Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony; Vitone, R. J. (2015-05-20). The Flash Gordon Serials, 1936-1940: A Heavily Illustrated Guide. McFarland. ISBN   9780786455003.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.