Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.
13 Facts About Leo McCarey
2.
Leo McCarey was involved in nearly 200 films, the most well known today being Duck Soup, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Going My Way, The Bells of St Mary's, My Son John and An Affair To Remember.
3.
Leo McCarey was one of the most popular and established comedy directors of the pre-World War II era.
4.
Leo McCarey graduated from the University of Southern California law school and besides the law tried mining, boxing, and songwriting before becoming an assistant director to Tod Browning in 1919.
5.
Leo McCarey then honed his skills at the Hal Roach Studios.
6.
Roach had hired him as a gagman in 1923, after Leo McCarey had impressed him with his sense of humor, following a game of handball together at a sports club.
7.
Leo McCarey initially wrote gags for the Our Gang series and other studio stars, then produced and directed shorts, including two-reelers with Charley Chase.
8.
Later in 1937, invited to Columbia, Leo McCarey earned his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Awful Truth, with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, a screwball comedy that launched Cary Grant's unique screen persona, largely concocted by Leo McCarey.
9.
Leo McCarey was a devout Roman Catholic and was deeply concerned with social issues.
10.
Leo McCarey testified as a friendly witness early on in the hearings of the Un-American Activities Committee which was investigating Communist activity in Hollywood.
11.
Leo McCarey's last picture was the poorly received Satan Never Sleeps, which, like My Son John, was a stern critique of Communism.
12.
Leo McCarey died on July 5,1969, aged 70, from emphysema.
13.
Leo McCarey was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.