George B. Seitz
director, producer, writer
- Birth name:
- George Brackett Seitz
- Born:
- 1888-01-03, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Died:
- 1944-07-08, Hollywood, California, USA(undisclosed)
- Professions:
- director, producer, writer
Biography
George B. Seitz swapped Broadway footlights for California sunshine in 1913 and promptly plunged into cliff-hanging mayhem, scripting the whirlwind chapter-plays *The Perils of Pauline* (1914), *The Exploits of Elaine* (1914) and *The Iron Claw* (1916). When the cameras rolled he sometimes stepped in front of them, but more often he stepped behind, discovering a knack for orchestrating train-track rescues and last-second escapes that kept Saturday-matinee crowds cheering. Serials gave way to features, silence to sound, yet Seitz never broke stride; comedies, saddle-soaked westerns, brooding crime tales—he delivered them to every lot in town, moving nimbly from Poverty Row to Columbia’s cramped sound stages and, finally, to the velvet back-lots of MGM. There he found his longest-running gig, guiding Mickey Rooney and company through the small-town triumphs and tuxedoed mishaps of the beloved “Andy Hardy” cycle and stamping the series with his brisk, good-natured touch.
