George Sidney
Born	October 4, 1916(1916-10-04) Long Island City, New York, United States
Died	May 5, 2002 (aged 85) Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

George Sidney (October 4, 1916 - May 5, 2002) was an American film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Contents 1 Career 2 Awards and nominations 3 Filmography 4 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Long Island City, New York, Sidney began his career as an assistant at MGM until being assigned to direct the Our Gang comedies, which MGM had just acquired from Hal Roach, in 1938. Sidney, then age 21, was the youngest Our Gang senior director ever, and was only nine years older than the eldest Our Gang kid, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's brother Harold.

After a year of working on Our Gang shorts, Sidney moved on to the Crime Does Not Pay series and popular Pete Smith specialties. He soon graduated to features, including The Harvey Girls (1946), The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), The Red Danube (1950), Kiss Me, Kate (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas (1964). His last film was Half a Sixpence (1967).

Sidney became good friends with MGM animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Hanna and Barbera's Jerry Mouse appeared alongside Gene Kelly in Sidney's film Anchors Aweigh (1945). After MGM close its animation studio in 1957, Sdney helped Hanna and Barbera form a deal with Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, to form the successful television animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, for which Sidney served as a boardmember for ten years. Sidney later featured Hanna-Barbera's Fred Flintstone and Huckleberry Hound in Bye Bye Birdie.

Sidney was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award four times, starting with the lush Technicolor remake of Show Boat. In 1958 he was presented with a Golden Globe Award for Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films. For his work in the art of cinema, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died of complications from lymphoma in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 85. He was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.

Motion picture actor George Sidney (actor) (1876-1945, born Samuel Greenfield) was his uncle.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Film	Result
1952	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Show Boat	Nominated
1953	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Scaramouche	Nominated
1954	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Young Bess	Nominated
1957	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	The Eddy Duchin Story	Nominated
1959	Directors Guild of America	DGA Honorary Life Member Award	-	Won
1986	Directors Guild of America	Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award	-	Won
1998	Directors Guild of America	President's Award	-	Won
1995	Golden Apple Award	Louella Parsons Award	-	Won
1958	Golden Globe Award	Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films	-	Won
1993	San Luis Obispo International Film Festival	King Vidor Memorial Award	-	Won

[edit] Filmography

The following films are a partial listing of his films:

• The Swinger (1966)
• Viva Las Vegas (1964)
• Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
• Pal Joey (1957)
• The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
• Jupiter's Darling (1955)
• Kiss Me Kate (1953)
• Young Bess (1953)
• Scaramouche (1952)
• Show Boat (1951)
• Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
• Key to the City (1950)
• The Red Danube (1949)
• The Three Musketeers (1948)

[edit] External links

• George Sidney at the Internet Movie Database
• George Sidney at Find a Grave

v • d • e Presidents of the Screen Directors Guild and the Directors Guild of America King Vidor (1936) · Frank Capra (1939) · George Stevens (1941) · Mark Sandrich (1943) · John Cromwell (1944) · George Marshall (1948) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950) · George Sidney (1951) · Frank Capra (1960) · George Sidney (1961) · Delbert Mann (1967) · Robert Wise (1971) · Robert Aldrich (1975) · George Schaefer (1979) · Jud Taylor (1981) · Gilbert Cates (1983) · Franklin Schaffner (1987) · Gene Reynolds (1993) · Jack Shea (1997) · Martha Coolidge (2002) · Michael Apted (2003) · Taylor Hackford (2009)

Persondata
NAME	Sidney, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Film director and producer
DATE OF BIRTH	October 4, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH	Long Island City, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH	May 5, 2002
PLACE OF DEATH	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States