A. Edward Sutherland

Biography

British-born A. Edward ("Eddie") Sutherland started in vaudeville and acted in films from 1914 at Keystone (he was one of the original Keystone Kops). He became a director in 1925, first with Paramount (1925-31), then at United Artists (1931-32), again with Paramount (1933, 1935-37), then Universal (1940-41) and RKO (1942). He hit his stride in the 1930s and 1940s with a string of well-received comedies starring Laurel & Hardy and W.C. Fields, but his Abie's Irish Rose (1946), an adaptation of the often-filmed stage play, which he also produced, was such a critical and financial disaster that he could not find work as a director in Hollywood again. In the 1950s he went to Britain and ended his career directing episodic television.