George Sidney

George Sidney Headshot

Director • Producer

Birth Date: October 4, 1916

Death Date: May 5, 2002

Birth Place: Queens, New York

The son of a producer and MGM executive, and a mother who was one of the Mooney Sisters in vaudeville, George Sidney worked his way up from messenger boy to director of numerous MGM musical hits--at one point 15 consecutive box office winners. Though his artistry is not as renowned as Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen and Busby Berkeley, Sidney can lay claim to having directed such classic musicals as "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) "The Harvey Girls" (1946), the 1951 remake of "Show Boat" and "Bye Bye Birdie" (1962).

Sidney actually broke into show business as a five-year old, playing sidekick to Tom Mix in the silent film "The Littlest Cowboy" (1921). But he did not pursue acting as a child. Instead, at age 18, Sidney went to work at MGM, first as a messenger boy, then as a sound technician and film editor. Still a teenager, he graduated to directing "Our Gang" comedies, and, at the age of 20, was put in charge of directing all of MGM's screen tests. He was also directing short films, including "Third Dimensional Murder" (1937), which experimented with the 3-D technique (which would later be in vogue during the 1950s), as well as the back to back Oscar-winners "Quicker'n a Wink" (1940) and "Of Pups and Puzzles" (1941).

In 1941, Sidney was handed his first feature film directing assignment, "Free and Easy," a lackluster Robert Cummings vehicle. He went on to direct Esther Williams in her first starring vehicle, "Bathing Beauties" (1944), and helped pioneer the combination of live action and animation in "Anchors Aweigh" (1945), notably in the now classic sequence in which Gene Kelly dances with a cartoon Jerry the Mouse. The animated character was created by the animation team of Joseph Barbera and William Hanna and the film marked the start of a long association between Sidney and the duo which would later include a five-year (1961-66) stint as president of the independent Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Sidney helped to consolidate the stardom of Judy Garland with "The Harvey Girls" (1946) and he had a success with an all-star version of "The Three Musketeers" (1948) Among his other notable features are "Annie Get Your Gun" (1950), with Betty Hutton in the title role, the 1951 color remake of "Show Boat" and "Kiss Me Kate" (1953) which teamed Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel and provided Ann Miller with one of her best screen roles. Late in the 50s, with MGM collapsing with the end of the studio system and lavish musicals a thing of the part, Sidney moved to Columbia as a producer as well as director. He served in both capacities on the middling biopic "Jeanne Eagels" (1957), with a miscast Kim Novak in the title role. He fared better with the screen version of the hit Broadway musical "Bye Bye Birdie" (1962), with Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh and Dick Van Dyke. Sidney's screen directing career ended with the unsuccessful musical "Half of Sixpence" (1968).

Sidney had occasionally worked on the small screen, including producing the 1964 Academy Awards telecast. He earned an Emmy nomination for directing and producing the United Nations-inspired film "Who Has Seen the Wind?" (ABC, 1965), in which the audience follows a refugee family as it seeks to reach America on a steamer. Still alive and nimble long after many of his contemporaries were not, Sidney participated in American Movie Classics' "Unscripted Hollywood" chat programs, sharing recollections with other stars, such as Betty Garrett and June Allyson. He and his second wife also hosted a local Los Angeles cable show devoted to films, "Reel to Reel."

Credits

Derrick

Director
Show
1974

Half a Sixpence

Director
Movie
1968

The Swinger

Director
Movie
1966

Viva Las VegasStream

Director
Movie
1964
87%

Viva Las VegasStream

Producer
Movie
1964
87%

Bye Bye BirdieStream

Director
Movie
1963
86%

Bye Bye BirdieStream

Producer
Movie
1963
86%

A Ticklish Affair

Director
Movie
1963

Pepe

Director
Movie
1961

Pepe

Producer
Movie
1961

Who Was That Lady?

Director
Movie
1960

Pal JoeyStream

Director
Movie
1957
80%

Jeanne Eagels

Director
Movie
1957

Jeanne Eagels

Producer
Movie
1957

The Eddy Duchin Story

Director
Movie
1956

Jupiter's Darling

Director
Movie
1955

Embrasse-moi chérie

Director
Movie
1953

Kiss Me KateStream

Director
Movie
1953
93%

Young Bess

Director
Movie
1953

Scaramouche

Director
Movie
1952

Show BoatStream

Director
Movie
1951
83%

Ukulele Ike

Director
Show
1950

Key to the City

Director
Movie
1950

Annie Get Your Gun

Director
Movie
1950
100%

The Red DanubeStream

Director
Movie
1949

The Three MusketeersStream

Director
Movie
1948
75%

Cass Timberlane

Director
Movie
1947

Festival en México

Director
Movie
1946

Ziegfeld FolliesStream

Director
Movie
1946
67%

The Harvey GirlsStream

Director
Movie
1946

Holiday in Mexico

Director
Movie
1946

Anchors AweighStream

Director
Movie
1945
53%

Bathing BeautyStream

Director
Movie
1944

Pilot No. 5

Director
Movie
1943

Thousands Cheer

Director
Movie
1943

Pacific Rendezvous

Director
Movie
1942

Of Pups and Puzzles

Director
Movie
1941

Murder in 3-D

Director
Movie
1941

Flicker Memories

Director
Movie
1941

Free and Easy

Director
Movie
1941

What's Your I.Q.?

Director
Movie
1940

Quicker'n a Wink

Director
Movie
1940

Alfalfa's Aunt

Director
Movie
1939

Duel Personalities

Director
Movie
1939

Love on Tap

Director
Movie
1939

Cousin Wilbur

Director
Movie
1939

Hollywood Hobbies

Director
Movie
1939

Party Fever

Director
Movie
1938

Practical Jokers

Director
Movie
1938

Men in Fright

Director
Movie
1938

Football Romeo

Director
Movie
1938

Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue

Director
Movie
1938

Sunday Night at the Trocadero

Director
Movie
1937

Pacific Paradise

Director
Movie
1937

Around the Corner

Actor
Kaplan
Movie
1930