1. George Seaton was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theater director.
38 Facts About George Seaton
1. 2.
Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish descent, the son of Olga and Charles Stenius, who was a chef and restaurant manager.
3.
George Seaton grew up in a Detroit Jewish neighborhood, and described himself as a "Shabas goy".
4.
George Seaton went on to learn Hebrew in an Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva and was even bar mitzvahed.
5.
George Seaton attended Exeter Academy and was meant to go to Yale but instead auditioned for Jesse Bonstelle's drama school in Detroit.
6.
George Seaton hired him for her stock company at $15 a week.
7.
George Seaton worked as an actor on radio station WXYZ.
8.
John L Barrett played the Lone Ranger on test broadcasts of the series in early January 1933, but when the program became part of the regular schedule, Seaton was cast in the title role.
9.
George Seaton wrote several plays, one of which was read by an executive at MGM who offered him a contract.
10.
George Seaton was credited on the scripts for Student Tour and The Winning Ticket and did some uncredited work with Robert Pirosh on A Night at the Opera.
11.
George Seaton left MGM in 1937, unhappy at being restricted to comedies.
12.
George Seaton went to Columbia where he was credited on the scripts for The Doctor Takes a Wife, This Thing Called Love and Bedtime Story.
13.
George Seaton wrote a historical war film, Ten Gentlemen from West Point, then did the comedies The Magnificent Dope with Ameche and Henry Fonda, and The Meanest Man in the World with Jack Benny.
14.
George Seaton wrote The Song of Bernadette, which was a big success.
15.
George Seaton followed it with the Betty Grable musical Coney Island.
16.
George Seaton wrote and directed The Shocking Miss Pilgrim with Grable.
17.
George Seaton followed it with Miracle on 34th Street, which quickly became acknowledged as a classic.
18.
George Seaton wrote and directed the comedies Apartment for Peggy with William Holden and Jeanne Crain, and Chicken Every Sunday with Dan Dailey.
19.
George Seaton wrote a screenplay adapted from a Harry Segall play and directed For Heaven's Sake with Clifton Webb.
20.
George Seaton wrote and directed a 1950 drama about the Berlin Airlift with Montgomery Clift, The Big Lift.
21.
George Seaton was to write and direct films, and they would produce films from others.
22.
Grace Kelly earned an Oscar for Best Actress and George Seaton won an Oscar for his screenplay.
23.
George Seaton wrote and directed The Proud and Profane with William Holden and Deborah Kerr, which was a box office disappointment.
24.
George Seaton directed a short film Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot and produced The Tin Star, directed by Anthony Mann.
25.
George Seaton worked as director on The Pleasure of His Company with Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds.
26.
George Seaton wrote and directed The Counterfeit Traitor with Holden.
27.
Perlberg-George Seaton Productions moved to MGM where George Seaton directed Kirk Douglas in The Hook, a Korean War drama.
28.
George Seaton was an uncredited producer on Twilight of Honor and directed some additional scenes on Mutiny on the Bounty.
29.
George Seaton announced he would make Merrily We Roll Along, but the film was never made.
30.
George Seaton wrote and directed 36 Hours, a war time thriller based on a story by Roald Dahl.
31.
In May 1965, George Seaton announced the end of his partnership with Perlberg.
32.
George Seaton went to Universal where he signed a three-picture contract.
33.
George Seaton then had the biggest hit of his career with the all-star Airport, which George Seaton adapted from the novel by Arthur Hailey.
34.
George Seaton announced he was looking for another film to make but none eventuated.
35.
In 1936, George Seaton married Phyllis Loughton George Seaton, a Broadway stage manager who became a successful acting coach and was the first female mayor of Beverly Hills in 1973.
36.
George Seaton died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California in 1979.
37.
George Seaton had been suffering from it for two years.
38.
George Seaton's papers are in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.