An iconoclastic and maverick auteur[1] working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones.
[11][12] A number of Aldrich's paternal uncles had impressive careers, among them a successful investment banker, an architect and Harvard instructor, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank who also served as U.S.
An aunt, Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich married John D. Rockefeller Jr., scion of the Standard Oil fortune, and was a leading figure in the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
"[22][23] At the age of 23, Aldrich began work at RKO Pictures as a production clerk, an entry-level position, after declining an offer through his Rockefeller connections to enter the studio as an associate producer.
[26][17] Though the smallest of Hollywood's top studios, RKO could boast an impressive roster of directors (George Cukor, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks) as well as movie stars (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and the Marx Brothers).
During these assignments, which spanned nine years, Aldrich gained both practical and aesthetic fundamentals of filmmaking: "set location and atmosphere" (Jean Renoir, The Southerner, 1945), the "techniques of pre-planning a shot" (Lewis Milestone's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, 1946), "action scenes" (William A. Wellman's The Story of G.I.
A troupe of loyal, mostly male, players were enlisted for his film leads and supporting roles: Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert, Richard Jaeckel, Wesley Addy, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson.
The production company offered a unique venue of independent filmmakers welcoming socially conscious themes critical of authoritarian aspects of American society.
[39][40] Enterprise's Body and Soul (1947), written by Polonsky, directed by Robert Rossen, and starring John Garfield, made a deep and lasting impression on the 29-year-old assistant director from both structural and thematic standpoints.
[42] Aldrich would revisit Body and Soul throughout his career when seeking guidance on how to convey the progressive ideals of the 1930s while working in the reactionary political atmosphere of the Cold War era.
Among them were Rossen, Polonsky, Garfield, directors John Berry, and Joseph Losey, producer Carl Foreman, and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, some of whom suffered blacklisting and imprisonment.
Aldrich was assistant to producer Harold Hecht on Ten Tall Men (1951), a French Foreign Legion action film starring Burt Lancaster.
"[54] Procter & Gamble hired Aldrich in 1952 to direct episodes of the anthology series The Doctor (later retitled The Guest in syndication), an early soap opera starring Warner Anderson.
Despite this, Aldrich routinely dedicated half or more of the allotted time to rehearsals, an immensely reassuring practice for the players that contributed to the efficient execution of the final live shoot.
[60][61] Following The Doctor, Aldrich resettled in Hollywood to complete twenty episodes of television's China Smith starring Dan Duryea, filmed on an even tighter timetable.
[62][63] Aldrich described the early TV industry as a "director's crash course" where, unlike feature film production, the overall quality of the series outweighed the success or failure of an individual episode.
As such, he used cinematic framing and composition to reveal character motivation and close ups serving to highlight dialog, all of which endowed his episodes with a polished Hollywood studio-like appearance.
[71] Aldrich remained ambitious to work in features and raised money for a low-budget action film called World for Ransom (1954), which used many of the same sets and cast members as China Smith, including star Dan Duryea.
Instead Aldrich produced and directed Kiss Me Deadly (1955), a film noir adapted by A. I. Bezzerides from a novel by Mickey Spillane starring Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer.
Breaking new grounds in its portrayal of sadistical violence, It was made for Parklane Productions, the independent company of Victor Saville, who owned the rights, and released through United Artists.
The Associates and Aldrich Company made a second film, also based on a play and released through United Artists, Attack (1956), starring Palance and Lee Marvin.
"[54] The Associates announced numerous projects around this time, including Tryanny, Kinderspiel, Potluck for Pomeroy, Candidate for President (by Don Weis) and Machine for Chuparosa.
[88] Aldrich was unable to get a job until he had an offer from Hammer Films and Seven Arts to write and direct Ten Seconds to Hell (1959), starring Palance and Jeff Chandler, in Germany.
[89] Aldrich stayed in Europe to make The Angry Hills (1959), based on the novel by Leon Uris and starring Robert Mitchum, for MGM in Greece for producer Raymond Stross.
The film was a massive hit at the box office and earned five Academy Award nominations (including a win for black-and-white costume design), restoring Aldrich's commercial and critical reputation.
It also revived the popularity of Davis and Crawford as box office draws and led to a subgenre of horror movies starring elder actresses nicknamed "Psycho-biddy".
[54] Emboldened by his recent commercial successes, Aldrich announced a $14 million production program of eight films, including Cross of Iron, Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte, The Tsar's Bride, Brouhaha, The Legend of Lylah Clare, Paper Eagle, Genghis Khan's Bicycle, and There Really Was a Gold Mine a sequel to Vera Cruz.
He picked a facility at 201 North Occidental Boulevard, which had been in existence as a film studio since 1913, making Mary Pickford movies, and had recently been the basis of Sutherland Productions.
[102] Films Aldrich announced but did not make around this time included Rebellion, a western about Victoriano Huerta with Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy,[104] and The Movement, about student protest.
Produced by Hyman at 20th Century Fox, it was another box office failure,[108] though it too has seen its reputation soar in recent years (Leonard Maltin gave it 3 1/2 stars, calling it "unusual, exciting" and a "unique entertainment").