Richard Thorpe (Director)

Reviews of movies from director Richard Thorpe

Looking for reviews of films directed by Richard Thorpe? Cinafilm has a total of 655 reviews across 42 movies directed by Richard Thorpe.

Movies from this director have generally received mixed reviews and hold an average rating of 57%.

Night Must Fall is Richard Thorpe's highest rated movie, with a score of 74% based on 18 reviews.

The lowest rated film from Richard Thorpe is Ten Thousand Bedrooms, with a score of 42% based on 2 reviews.

Director Biography

Richard Thorpe (February 24, 1896 - May 1, 1991) was an American film director.    Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred and eighty films. The first full length motion picture he directed for MGM was Last of the Pagans (1935) starring Ray Mala. After directing The Last Challenge in 1967, he retired from the film industry. He died in Palm Springs, California in 1991.

Thorpe is also known as the original director of The Wizard of Oz. He was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. Thorpe notoriously gave Judy Garland a blonde wig and cutesy "baby-doll" makeup that made her look like a girl in her late teens rather than an innocent Kansas farm girl of about thirteen. Both makeup and wig were discarded at the suggestion of George Cukor, who was brought in temporarily. Stills from Thorpe's work on the film survive today.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.

Richard Thorpe has directed films starring Bess Flowers, Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Taylor and Reginald Owen.

Richard Thorpe has collaborated with these film directors: Mitchell Leisen and Richard Rosson.