Gregory La Cava

About Gregory La Cava

Who is it?: Film Director
Birth Day: March 10, 1892
Birth Place: Towanda, Pennsylvania, United States
Died On: March 1, 1952(1952-03-01) (aged 59)\nMalibu, California
Birth Sign: Aries
Occupation: Film director

Gregory La Cava Net Worth

Gregory La Cava was born on March 10, 1892 in Towanda, Pennsylvania, United States, is Film Director. Gregory La Cava was an American film director best known for his comedies ‘My Man Godfrey’ and ‘Stage Door.’ One of the most prominent directors in Hollywood during the 1930s, he was known for his unconventional direction style and creative treatment of comedic themes. He was especially reputed for drawing the best performances from the actresses which led him to be referred to as a woman’s director. But it was not only women he directed to perfection; he also directed many top actors of his era to Academy Award nominations. A highly creative and innovative individual, he became interested in the visual arts as a young boy and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students' League. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and cartoonist and soon moved to animated movie work at the studio of the silent era animator, Raoul Barré. A highly skilled young man, he was eventually hired by the newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, to work for his International Film Service. With time La Cava grew more ambitious and forayed into Hollywood where he found considerable success as a film director. However, despite all his greatness behind the camera, he fell victim to the vice of alcoholism which eventually led to his downfall.
Gregory La Cava is a member of Film & Theater Personalities

💰Gregory La Cava Net worth: $1.1 Million

Some Gregory La Cava images

Biography/Timeline

1913

Around 1913, he started doing odd jobs at the studio of Raoul Barré. By 1915, he was an Animator on the Animated Grouch Chasers series.

1915

Towards the end of 1915, william Randolph Hearst decided to create an animation studio to promote the comic strips printed in his newspapers. He called the new company International Film Service, and he hired La Cava to run it (for double what he was making with Barré). La Cava's first employee was his co-worker at the Barré Studio, Frank Moser. Another was his fellow student in Chicago, Grim Natwick (later to achieve fame at Disney). As he developed more and more of Hearst's comics into cartoon series, he came to put semi-independent units in charge of each, leading to the growth of individual styles.

1918

La Cava also had the significant advantage over other studios of an unlimited budget: Hearst's Business sense completely broke down when it came to his Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial and the "living comic strips" they contained. La Cava's main fault as a Producer and Director was that his cartoons were too clearly animated comic strips, hampered by speech balloons when rival Bray Studio was creating more effective series with original characters. He was apparently aware of this fault, and he had his animators study Charlie Chaplin films to improve their timing and characterization. But he didn't have time to achieve very much, because in July 1918, Hearst's Bankers caught up with him and International Film Service was shut down.

1922

By 1922, La Cava had become a live-action Director of two-reel comedies, the direct competitor to animated films. Among the actors he directed in the silent era are:

1930

La Cava worked his way up to feature films in the silent era, but it is for his work in sound films of the 1930s—especially comedies—that he is best known today. And though he did not always get credit, he also often had a hand in creating the screenplays for his films. Among the sound films he directed are:

1940

His output dropped severely in the 1940s, and he only officially directed one film after 1942, Living in a Big Way (1947).

1952

La Cava died nine days before his 60th birthday on March 1, 1952 in Malibu, California. His remains were buried at Chapel of the Pines Crematory.