Oscar Profile #368: Henry King

Born January 24, 1886 in Christiansburg, Virginia, Henry Edmonson King left school at 15 to go to work for the Norfolk and Western Railroad. He later became an actor with the touring Empire Stock Company. He married actress Gypsy Abbott, with whom he would have four children, in 1914. He made his first film as an actor in 1913, became a director in 1915 and directed himself to great success in 1916’s Little Mary Sunshine among other films. His great silent film successes included 1921’s Tol’able David, his first film as producer; 1923’s The White Sister in which he drew a mustache on Ronald Colman thus making his career; 1925’s Stella Dallas and 1926’s The Winning of Barbara Worth in which he cast an unknown Gary Cooper over the objections of producer Sam Goldwyn.

King was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Although he would never win an Oscar himself, and would in fact only receive two Oscar nominations over the course of his long career, he would remain one of the most versatile of directors, tackling everything from historical dramas to action-adventure films to musicals.

The first of seven King films to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, was 1933’s pre-musical version of State Fair starring Will Rogers and Janet Gaynor. Lightning would strike again with 1937’s In Old Chicago starring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche and Alice Brady as Mrs. O’Leary whose cow started the Chicago fire and 1938’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band, King’s first musical, with Power, Faye and Ameche joined by Ethel Merman.

The 1940s brought Best Picture Oscar nominations to three more King films. They included 1943’s The Song of Bernadette starring Jennifer Jones as the 18th Century saint and Wilson starring Alexander Knox as Woodrow Wilson, the films that earned King his only personal nominations. The decade ended with a Best Picture nomination for the World War II psychological classic, Twelve O’Clock High starring Gregory Peck.

The 1950s found King a four-time nominee for Best Director by the Directors Guild of America, though not the Academy. His first nomination was for the 1951 biblical epic, David and Bathsheba starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward. His second was for 1952’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro starring Peck, Hayward and Ava Gardner, the film that Ernest Hemingway considered the best of the many adaptations of his works. His third was for 1954’s King of the Khyber Rifles starring Tyrone Power. The fourth was 1956’s Carousel starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, the second of three Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals in a two-year period. It came between 1955’s Oklahoma! and 1956’s The King and I

King’s beautifully photographed 1955 film, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing starring Jennifer Jones and William Holden, was the seventh and final King film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Subsequent films included 1957’s The Sun Also Rises starring Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner; 1959’s This Earth Is Mine starring Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons; 1959’s Beloved Infidel starring Gregory Peck and Deborah Kerr and 1962’s Tender Is the Night, his last, starring Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards.

King’s wife Gypsy died in 1952. He married Ida King Davis in 1959.

Henry King lived twenty years in retirement, dying of a heart attack in his sleep on June 29, 1982 at the age of 96.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

STATE FAIR (1933)

The first film version of Philip Strong’s thrice-filmed novel was its only non-musical version. Will Rogers played the Iowa farmer, Louise Dresser played his wife, Janet Gaynor and Norman Foster played their children. Lew Ayres played Gaynor’s love interest and Sally Eilers played Foster’s. Oddly, King was not asked to direct the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical version in 1945 despite his success with musicals beginning with 1938’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band. He did, however, direct the film version of R&H’s Carousel at the same time Lang was busy directing R&H’s The King and I.

THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943)

The deeply religious King was in his element directing 1923’s The White Sister with Lillian Gish as the nun and Ronald Colman as her former lover, even to the extent of converting to Roman Catholicism. Twenty years later he directed the even more powerful Bernadette to a slew of Oscar nominations, including one for himself. Jennifer Jones became a star and an Oscar winner playing the 18th Century saint, while Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper and Anne Revere, like King, had to be content with mere nominations. He earned his second nomination for the following year’s Wilson.

TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (1949)

Often cited as King’s best film, and Gregory Peck’s best, at least until To Kill a Mockingbird, this emotionally riveting World War II classic examines the psychological toll the war takes on the sensitive Air Force brigadier general who is forced to hide his true feeling as he whips and browbeats a demoralized and resentful squadron back into operating at peak efficiency. Peck unaccountably lost the Oscar he was nominated for, but Dean Jagger won in support as his adjunct. There are also fine performances given here by Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Millard Mitchell, Paul Stewart and Robert Arthur.

LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING (1955)

One of the most lushly filmed early cinemascope films, this highly popular romance received eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, the seventh and last King-directed film to do so. King himself was once again overlooked, but the film did win for its costume design, hit title song and score. The biographical story of a Eurasian Hong Kong doctor and her American correspondent lover contained Jennifer Jones’ fifth and final Oscar-nominated performance. Although Jones and co-star William Holden had great on-screen chemistry, the two hated one another in real life, even to the extent that Jones would chew garlic before their kissing scenes.

THE SUN ALSO RISES (1957)

King was proud of the fact that Ernest Hemingway considered his 1952 film, The Snows of Kilimanjaro the best-ever adaptation of his work and hoped to please him again with this adaptation of this, one of his greatest works. Sadly, however, King was not happy with the overage cast they gave him to play recent World War I veterans. Tyrone Power, whom King discovered and cast in his breakout role in 1936’s Lloyd’s of London, in his next-to-last completed film, looked even older than his 42 years. Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert, though good in their roles, were also too old for their parts.