George Breakston

George Paul Breakston (January 22, 1920 – May 21, 1973) was a French-American actor, producer and film director,[1] active in Hollywood from his days as a child actor in Andy Hardy films in the 1930s (where he played the character Beezy[2]), to a period as an independent producer/director in the 1950s.

George Breakston
Breakston in I Killed That Man (1941)
Born
George Paul Breakston

(1920-01-22)January 22, 1920
Paris, France
DiedMay 21, 1973(1973-05-21) (aged 53)
Paris, France
Occupations
  • Film director
  • actor
  • producer
Years active1935–1966

Biography

Breakston was the son of French-born Jacqueline DuVal.[3] He first entered the entertainment world by working in radio as a child actor from 1930. Hs came to the notice of Hollywood and appeared in a variety of films.[4] He made his stage debut in A Midsummer Night's Dream and made his motion picture debut in It Happened One Night (1934).

During World War II he was commissioned in the US Army Signal Corps through Officers Candidate School[5] then served in the Pacific War as a photographer. When the war ended Breakston remained in Japan.

He reentered the civilian film world by co-writing, producing, directing and starring in Urubu: The Vulture People filmed in location in the Mato Grosso, Brazil. He followed it up with the documentary African Stampede filmed in the Belgian Congo and Kenya where he would later make his home.

Returning to Japan, Breakston co-produced and wrote Tokyo File 212 a 1951 American film credited as Hollywood's first feature film totally filmed in Japan.[6] He followed it up by filming and directing Oriental Evil (1951) and Geisha Girl (1952) in Japan. He had planned a film, which according to Los Angeles Times had interested Errol Flynn.[7]

Breakston moved to Kenya filming several safari adventure feature films The Scarlet Spear, Golden Ivory, Escape in the Sun, and Woman and the Hunter. Many of these featured John Bentley who starred in a television series produced by Breakston and filmed in Kenya, African Patrol. Breakston also filmed another series in Kenya Adventures of a Jungle Boy (1957) and planned a third Trader Horn.[8]

Breakston joined the horror bandwagon by making The Manster in 1959[9] back in Japan, then made several films in Yugoslavia.

He died in Paris on May 21, 1973.[1]

Selected filmography

References
  1. "George Breakston". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  2. "Overview for George Breakston". Turner Classic Movies.
  3. . Oakland Tribune Oakland, California 01 Sep 1935, Sun Page 77
  4. Obituary Variety 30 May 1973
  5. "World War II Signal OCS". Army Signal OCS. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  6. Edwards, Paul M. (1997). A Guide to Films on the Korean War. Greenwood Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-313-30316-6.
  7. Schallert, Edwin (October 12, 1950). "Flynn, Marley Named for New Nippon Venture". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. B13.
  8. "Assoc. British Buys 'African'". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. February 3, 1958. p. 9. ISSN 0006-2510.
  9. "双頭の殺人鬼 : 作品情報".
  10. Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
  11. "Press Book" (PDF). New York University. Retrieved September 21, 2016.

Further reading
  • Holmstrom, John (1996). The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, p. 95-96.
  • Dye, David (1988). Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 24-25.
  • Willson, Dixie (1935). Little Hollywood Stars. Akron, OH, and New York: Saalfield Pub. Co, pp. 119–127.
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