Frank Wright Tuttle was born August 6, 1892.
His Hollywood career spanned 37 years, from 1922 (The Cradle Buster) to 1959 (Island of Lost Women).
Tuttle was educated at Yale University, where he edited the campus humor magazine, The Yale Record.
After graduation, he worked in New York in the advertising department of the Metropolitan Music Bureau. He later moved to Hollywood, where he became a director for Paramount.
His films are largely in the comedy and film noir genres.
In 1947, Tuttle’s career ground to a temporary halt with the onset of the first of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Communist infiltration of the movie industry. Tuttle had joined the American Communist Party in 1937.
Unable to find work in the US, he moved to France, where he made Gunman in the Streets (1950) starring Simone Signoret and Dane Clark.
After a decade as a member of the Communist Party, in 1951 Tuttle gave 36 names to the HUAC.
Tuttle died in Hollywood on January 6, 1963, aged 70.
Filmography:
The Cradle Buster (1922)
Puritan Passions (1923) starring Mary Astor
Second Fiddle (1923) starring Mary Astor
Youthful Cheaters (1923)
Grit (1924)
Dangerous Money (1924)
The Manicure Girl (1925)
The Lucky Devil (1925)
Lovers in Quarantine (1925) starring Bebe Daniels and Harrison Ford
Kid Boots (1926) starring Eddie Cantor and Clara Bow
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926) starring Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks
The American Venus (1926) with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
The Untamed Lady (1926) starring Gloria Swanson
Blind Alleys (1927) starring Evelyn Brent and Thomas Meighan
One Woman to Another (1927)
Something Always Happens (1928)
Varsity (1928) starring Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Mary Brian
Sound Films
The Canary Murder Case (additional sound footage; 1929) starring William Powell as Philo Vance
The Green Murder Case starring William Powell as Philo Vance
Sweetie (1929) starring Nancy Carroll
Paramount on Parade (1930), Paramount’s all-star revue, script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The Benson Murder Case (1930) starring William Powell as Philo Vance
True to the Navy (1930) starring Clara Bow and Fredric March
It Pays to Advertise (1931) starring Carole Lombard
No Limit (1931) starring Clara Bow and Thelma Todd
This Reckless Age starring Charles “Buddy” Rogers
The Big Broadcast (1932) starring Bing Crosby
This Is the Night (1932) with Cary Grant
Roman Scandals (1933) starring Eddie Cantor
Springtime for Henry (1934) starring Otto Kruger and Nigel Bruce
Here is My Heart (1934) starring Bing Crosby
Ladies Should Listen (1934) starring Cary Grant
Two for Tonight (1935) starring Bing Crosby
The Glass Key (1935), based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel
All the King’s Horses (1935) starring Carl Brisson
College Holiday (1936) starring Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen
Waikiki Wedding (1937) starring Bing Crosby
Doctor Rhythm (1938) starring Bing Crosby
Paris Honeymoon (1939) starring Bing Crosby
I Stole a Million (1939) starring George Raft and written by Nathanael West
Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939) starring Edgar Bergen
Lucky Jordan (1942) starring Sheldon Leonard and Alan Ladd
This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd
Star Spangled Rhythm (contributing director; 1943) sketches by George S. Kaufman
The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) starring Veronica Lake and based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham
Don Juan Quilligan (1945) starring Phil Silvers
Suspense (1946) starring Barry Sullivan and Belita
Swell Guy (1946) starring Sonny Tufts
Gunman in the Streets (1950) starring Simone Signoret
The Magic Face (1951) starring Luther Adler
Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) starring Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson
A Cry in the Night (1956) starring Edmond O’Brien, Natalie Wood, Raymond Burr
Island of Lost Women (1959) starring Jeff Richards
