Donald Siegel (
October 26, 1912 -
April 20, 1991) was an influential
American film director and
producer. His name appeared in the credits of his films as both
Don Siegel and
Donald Siegel.
Born in
Chicago, he graduated from
Jesus College, Cambridge and found work in
Warner Bros. film library, rising to become head of the Montage Department. In
1945 two shorts he directed,
Hitler Lives? and
A Star in the Night, won
Academy Awards, which launched his career as a feature director.
He directed whatever material came his way, often transcending the limitations of budget and script to produce interesting and adept works. He directed two episodes of
The Twilight Zone, "
The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" and "
Uncle Simon". He worked with
Steve McQueen in
Hell Is for Heroes and
Lee Marvin in the influential
The Killers (
1964) before a series of films with
Clint Eastwood that were successful both critically and commercially. These included the
policiers Coogan's Bluff and
Dirty Harry, the
Budd Boetticher-scripted Western
Two Mules for Sister Sara, the cynical
American Civil War melodrama
The Beguiled and the prison-break picture
Escape from Alcatraz. He was a considerable influence on Eastwood's own career as a director, and Eastwood's film
Unforgiven is dedicated to Siegel and
Sergio Leone.
He has a
cameo role as a bartender in Eastwood's
Play Misty For Me, and, as the director of the original
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, appears as a "pod" taxi driver in
Philip Kaufman's remake.
From 1948 to 1953, he was married to the actress
Viveca Lindfors, with whom he had a son,
Kristoffer Tabori.
He died at the age of 78 from cancer in
Los Angeles, survived by his son.
rss feed