Gregory Orr (filmmaker)

Last updated

Gregory William Orr (born 6 August 1954 in Los Angeles) is an American writer and director of documentary and fiction films. He is the son of actress Joy Page and TV producer William T. Orr, and step-grandson of Jack L. Warner, one of the Warner Brothers. [1]

Contents

Career

Orr attended Boston University and the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied under film director Alexander Mackendrick.[ citation needed ]

In 1993 Orr produced his first documentary, Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul, a feature-length biography of his mother's stepfather, the movie pioneer Jack L. Warner.

Orr's other films include Parole: Prison Without Bars (2000), The Day They Died (2003), Alone (2004, short), and Recreator (2011). As Recreator, later entitled, Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles (2012), marked the filmmaker's debut in feature-length, psychological thrillers, the movie and Orr's creative journey were explored in issue number 62 of Indie Slate magazine, distributed throughout North America and in parts of Australia. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack L. Warner</span> Canadian-American film executive (1892–1978)

Jack Leonard Warner was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned over 55 years, surpassing that of any other of the seminal Hollywood studio moguls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Webb</span> American actor, producer, director, and writer (1920–1982)

John Randolph Webb was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise, which he created. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darryl F. Zanuck</span> American film producer (1902–1979)

Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors. He produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture during his tenure at 20th Century Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Warner</span> American film studio executive

Samuel Louis Warner was an American film producer who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry, Albert, and Jack L. Warner. Sam Warner is credited with procuring the technology that enabled Warner Bros. to produce the film industry's first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer. He died in 1927, on the day before the film's enormously successful premiere.

André William Gregory is a French-born American theatre director, writer and actor. He is best known for co-writing and starring in My Dinner with Andre, a 1981 comedy-drama film directed by Louis Malle. Gregory studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.

<i>House on Haunted Hill</i> (1999 film) 1999 American supernatural horror film

House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan. The plot follows a group of strangers who are invited to a party at an abandoned insane asylum, where they are offered $1 million each by an amusement park mogul if they are able to survive the night. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it is a remake of the 1959 film of the same title directed by William Castle, and features special effects by famed make-up artists Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy Page</span> American actress (1924–2008)

Joy Page was an American actress. She is best known for her role as the Bulgarian refugee Annina Brandel in Casablanca (1942). She was sometimes credited as Joanne Page.

John Andrew Davis is an American film producer and founder of Davis Entertainment.

<i>Sugarfoot</i> American Western TV series

Sugarfoot is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with Cheyenne ; Cheyenne and Bronco ; and Bronco. The Warner Bros. production stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner who comes to the Oklahoma Territory to become a lawyer. Brewster was a correspondence-school student whose apparent lack of cowboy skills earned him the nickname "Sugarfoot", a designation even below that of a tenderfoot.

Camelot is a 1967 American musical fantasy drama film directed by Joshua Logan and written by Alan Jay Lerner, based on the 1960 stage musical of the same name by Lerner and Frederick Loewe. It stars Richard Harris as King Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere, and Franco Nero as Lancelot, with David Hemmings, Lionel Jeffries and Laurence Naismith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Motion Picture Unit</span> Film production unit of the United States Army Air Forces

The 18th AAF Base Unit, originally known as the First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, was the primary film production unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, and was the first military unit made up entirely of professionals from the film industry. It produced more than 400 propaganda and training films, which were notable for being informative as well as entertaining. Films for which the unit is known include Resisting Enemy Interrogation, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress and The Last Bomb—all of which were released in theatres. Veteran actors such as Clark Gable, William Holden, Clayton Moore, Ronald Reagan, Craig Stevens and DeForest Kelley, and directors such as John Sturges served with the 18th AAF Base Unit. The unit also produced training films and trained combat cameramen.

<i>Mildred Pierce</i> (film) 1945 American melodrama/film noir film by Michael Curtiz

Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American melodrama/film noir directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, and Zachary Scott, also featuring Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, and Bruce Bennett. Based on the 1941 novel by James M. Cain, this was Crawford's first starring role for Warner Bros., after leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1996, Mildred Pierce was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.

<i>Bugs Bunny: Superstar</i> 1975 film

Bugs Bunny: Superstar is a 1975 Looney Tunes documentary film narrated by Orson Welles and produced and directed by Larry Jackson. It was the first documentary to examine the history of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes with its animated cartoon characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster movie</span> Film genre

A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under the horror, comedy, fantasy, or science fiction genres. Monster movies originated with adaptations of horror folklore and literature.

William T. Orr was an American actor and television producer associated with various Western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. In most of his Warner Bros. series, he was billed as "Wm. T. Orr." Orr began his career as an actor; his film credits included The Mortal Storm, The Gay Sisters, and The Big Street.

<i>Romance on the High Seas</i> 1948 film by Michael Curtiz

Romance on the High Seas is a 1948 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore and Doris Day in her film debut. Busby Berkeley was the choreographer. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Original Song for "It's Magic", and Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

<i>A Fever in the Blood</i> 1961 film by Vincent Sherman

A Fever in the Blood is a 1961 American courtroom drama, produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. The film features a roster of the studio's television contract players, often miscast according to the film's producer and screenwriter Roy Huggins in his Archive of American Television interview. In fact, Huggins later complained that the film's star, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. was "too young for the role [of the judge] and I said so". The picture, based on the 1959 novel of the same name by a retired Colorado lawyer, William Pearson, also featured Angie Dickinson, Jack Kelly, Don Ameche, Ray Danton, Herbert Marshall, Rhodes Reason, Robert Colbert, Carroll O'Connor, Parley Baer, and Saundra Edwards. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman, with music by Ernest Gold, cinematography by J. Peverell Marley, and editing by William H. Ziegler.

The Czar of Black Hollywood is a 2014 documentary film by Bayer Mack that chronicles the early life and career of African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951). Mack conceived of and produced the film about Micheaux using Library of Congress archived footage, photos, illustrations and vintage music. The documentary, which is the first devoted exclusively to Oscar Micheaux's life, is narrated by William Bell, features an original score by Nicholas Jones and art direction by Julie Anderson.

Steve Trilling was a Hollywood executive, best known for being second in command to Jack L. Warner at Warner Bros in the 1940s through to 1960s. He replaced Hal Wallis after Wallis left the studio, although Trilling had less power than Wallis.

<i>Navy Blues</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Lloyd Bacon

Navy Blues is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Arthur T. Horman and Sam Perrin. The film stars Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Martha Raye, Jack Haley, Herbert Anderson, Jack Carson, Jackie Gleason and William T. Orr. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 13, 1941.

References

  1. Stein, Jean (2017-02-21). West of Eden: An American Place. Random House Publishing Group. p. 325. ISBN   978-0-8129-8793-5.
  2. "Indieslate.com Mobile Apps – App Technology News" . Retrieved 2018-01-02.

Variety review Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul [December 12, 1993]