Lambert Hillyer

 ( 1893 Births ) 

Lambert Hillyer (July 8, 1893 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known today for his many western features, his horror films The Invisible Ray and Dracula's Daughter, and the first Batman serial.

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Biography Lambert Harwood Hillyer was born July 8, 1893, in Tyner, IndianaAncestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 database. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2016. (his 1946 resumé amended this to South Bend, Indiana). The International Motion Picture Almanac (1946-47 Edition), edited by Terry Ramsaye, Quigley Publications, 1946, p. 151. His mother was character actress Lydia Knott.Year: 1920; Census Place: Los Angeles Assembly District 63, Los Angeles, California. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census database. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2016. A graduate of Drake University, he worked as a newspaper reporter and short-story writer, then as an actor in vaudeville and stock theater. During World War I he began working in motion pictures with the Mutual Film company. He began his career as a director with Paramount-Artcraft, then First National, Samuel Goldwyn, and Fox Film. He became a specialist in westerns, working on many silent features starring William S. Hart, Buck Jones, Tom Mix, and others.

Hillyer expanded into romantic melodramas and crime films in the 1920s. In 1936 he directed two chillers for Universal, the science-fiction film The Invisible Ray and the cult horror film Dracula's Daughter.

He directed many features for Columbia Pictures in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some were major productions like The Defense Rests (1935) with Jack Holt and Jean Arthur, but most were low-budget action features. In 1940 he was assigned to Columbia's Charles Starrett westerns, including The Durango Kid (1940), which later inspired a popular series. When Starrett left the studio temporarily, Hollywood Reporter, "Starrett Leaves Col.," July 22, 1940, p. 2. Hillyer was reassigned to the Bill Elliott series, which he directed through 1942. One of Hillyer's most famous credits is the Batman serial (1943), which was memorable enough to be re-released in 1954, 1962, and 1965. The 1965 revival inspired the very successful Batman TV series.

After his tenure with Columbia ended in 1943, Hillyer moved to RKO Radio Pictures briefly, where he directed a Tim Holt western and a pair of two-reel comedies with Leon Errol. Hillyer then began a six-year association with Monogram Pictures, first with the Sam Katzman crime story Smart Guy and then a series with the studio's newest cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown. Hillyer also directed Monogram's other western leads Jimmy Wakely and Whip Wilson.

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Television Like many directors who were accustomed to low budgets and speedy schedules, Lambert Hillyer made a smooth transition to the new field of television. He directed 40 episodes of the syndicated Western The Cisco Kid. Hillyer also directed seven episodes of Highway Patrol, which starred Broderick Crawford. His last assignment came in 1957, a single episode of the secret-agent show The Man Called X, under the pseudonym Lambert Hill.

Hillyer died July 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, California.Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940–1997 database. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2000. Retrieved July 23, 2016.

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Filmography

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Director

1917		Also screenwriter
1917	Strife
1917
1918	Riddle Gawne
1919	Breed of Men
1919
1919		Also screenwriter
1919	Square Deal Sanderson	Also screenwriter
1919	Wagon Tracks
1919	John Petticoats
1920		Also screenwriter
1920	Sand!	Also screenwriter
1920		Also screenwriter
1920		Also screenwriter
1921	O'Malley of the Mounted
1921	The Whistle	Also screenwriter
1921	Three Word Brand	Also screenwriter
1921	White Oak
1922	White Hands	Also screenwriter
1922	Travelin' On	Also screenwriter
1922	Caught Bluffing
1922	Skin Deep
1922	The Super-Sex	Also screenwriter
1922
1923	Scars of Jealousy	Also screenwriter
1923
1923	Temporary Marriage	Also screenwriter
1923
1923	The Lone Star Ranger	Also screenwriter
1923	Eyes of the Forest
1923	Mile-a-Minute Romeo
1924	Those Who Dance	Also screenwriter
1924	Barbara Frietchie	Also screenwriter
1924	Idle Tongues
1925	I Want My Man
1925	The Making of O'Malley
1925	The Knockout
1925	The Unguarded Hour
1926	Her Second Chance
1926	Miss Nobody
1926	30 Below Zero
1927	The War Horse	Also screenwriter
1927	Hills of Peril
1927	Chain Lightning	Also screenwriter
1928	The Branded Sombrero	Also screenwriter
1928	Fleetwing	Also screenwriter
1930	Beau Bandit
1931	The Deadline	Also screenwriter
1931	One Man Law	Also screenwriter
1932	The Fighting Fool
1932	South of the Rio Grande
1932	Hello Trouble	Also screenwriter
1932	White Eagle
1932	Forbidden Trail
1932	Sundown Rider	Also screenwriter
1933	The California Trail	Also screenwriter
1933	Unknown Valley	Also screenwriter
1933	Dangerous Crossroads
1933	Police Car 17	Also screenwriter
1933	Master of Men
1933	Before Midnight
1933		Also screenwriter
1934	Once to Every Woman
1934	The Man Trailer	Also screenwriter
1934
1934
1934	Against the Law
1934	Men of the Night	Also screenwriter
1935	Behind the Evidence
1935	In Spite of Danger
1935	Men of the Hour
1935	The Awakening of Jim Burke
1935	Superspeed
1935	Guard That Girl	Also screenwriter
1936	The Invisible Ray
1936	Dangerous Waters
1936	Dracula's Daughter
1937	Speed to Spare	Also screenwriter
1937	Girls Can Play	Also screenwriter
1937	All American Sweetheart
1938	Women in Prison
1938	My Old Kentucky Home
1938	Extortion	Also screenwriter
1938	Gang Bullets
1939	Convict's Code
1939	Should a Girl Marry?
1939	Girl from Rio
1940
1940	Beyond the Sacramento
1940		Gene Blottner (2025). 9780786480258, McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786480258
1941	The Pinto Kid
1941		Second-unit director
1941	North from the Lone Star
1941	Hands Across the Rockies
1941
1941		Also screenwriter
1941	Thunder over the Prairie
1941	King of Dodge City
1941	Prairie Stranger
1941	Roaring Frontiers
1941
1942
1942	North of the Rockies
1942	Prairie Gunsmoke
1942	Vengeance of the West
1943	Fighting Frontier
1943	Bombardier	Aerial action sequences (uncredited)
1943
1943	Six Gun Gospel
1943	Smart Guy
1943	The Texas Kid''
1943	Batman	15-part serial
1944	Partners of the Trail
1944	Law Men
1944	Range Law
1944	West of the Rio Grande
1944	Land of the Outlaws
1944	Ghost Guns
1945	Beyond the Pecos
1945	Flame of the West
1945	Stranger from Santa Fe
1945	South of the Rio Grande
1945
1945	Frontier Feud
1946	Border Bandits
1946	Under Arizona Skies
1946
1946	Silver Range
1946	Trigger Fingers
1946	Shadows on the Range
1947	Raiders of the South
1947	Valley of Fear
1947	Land of the Lawless
1947
1947	Trailing Danger
1947	The Hat Box Mystery
1947
1947	Flashing Guns
1947	Gun Talk
1948	Overland Trails
1948	Song of the Drifter
1948	Oklahoma Blues
1948	Crossed Trails
1948	Partners of the Sunset
1948	Frontier Agent
1948	Range Renegades
1948
1948
1948	Outlaw Brand
1948	Sundown Riders
1949	Gun Runner
1949	Gun Law Justice
1949	Trails End
1949	Haunted Trails
1949	Riders of the Dusk
1949	Range Land

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Screenwriter In addition to writing screenplays for many of the films he directed, as noted above, Hillyer wrote or contributed to the screenplays for these motion pictures.

1917	They're Off
1917
1917
1917
1917	Love or Justice
1917	The Snarl
1917	One Shot Ross
1917
1921
1930	Hide-Out
1933	Straightaway
1933	State Trooper
1935	Law Beyond the Range
1937
1938	Highway Patrol
1939	Parents on Trial
1939

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External links

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