Lambert Hillyer

Lambert Hillyer (July 8, 1893 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known today for his many western features, his horror films The Invisible Ray and Dracula's Daughter, and the first Batman serial.

Lambert Hillyer
Born	Lambert Harwood Hillyer (1893-07-08)July 8, 1893 Tyner, Indiana
Died	July 5, 1969(1969-07-05) (aged 75) Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1917–1957
Spouse	Lucille Stein

Biography

Lambert Harwood Hillyer was born July 8, 1893, in Tyner, Indiana^[1] (his 1946 resumé amended this to South Bend, Indiana).^[2] His mother was character actress Lydia Knott.^[3] A graduate of Drake College,^[4] he worked as a newspaper reporter and short-story writer, then as an actor in vaudeville and stock theater. During World War I he began working in motion pictures with the Mutual company. He began his career as a director with Paramount-Artcraft, then First National, Goldwyn, and Fox. He became a specialist in westerns, working on many silent features starring William S. Hart, Buck Jones, Tom Mix, and others.

Hillyer expanded into romantic melodramas and crime films in the 1920s. In 1936 he directed two chillers for Universal, the science-fiction film The Invisible Ray and the cult horror film Dracula's Daughter.

He directed many features for Columbia Pictures in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some were major productions like The Defense Rests (1935) with Jack Holt and Jean Arthur, but most were low-budget action features. In 1940 he was assigned to Columbia's Charles Starrett westerns, including The Durango Kid (1940), which later inspired a popular series. When Starrett left the studio temporarily,^[5] Hillyer was reassigned to the Bill Elliott series, which he directed through 1942. One of Hillyer's most famous credits is the Batman serial (1943), which was memorable enough to be re-released in 1954, 1962, and 1965. The 1965 revival inspired the very successful Batman TV series.

After his tenure with Columbia ended in 1943, Hillyer moved to RKO Radio Pictures briefly, where he directed a Tim Holt western and a pair of two-reel comedies with Leon Errol. Hillyer then began a six-year association with Monogram Pictures, first with the Sam Katzman crime story Smart Guy and then a series with the studio's newest cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown. Hillyer also directed Monogram's other western leads Jimmy Wakely and Whip Wilson.

Television

Like many directors who were accustomed to low budgets and speedy schedules, Lambert Hillyer made a smooth transition to the new field of television. He directed 40 episodes of the syndicated Western The Cisco Kid. Hillyer also directed seven episodes of Highway Patrol, which starred Broderick Crawford. His last assignment came in 1957, a single episode of the secret-agent show The Man Called X, under the pseudonym Lambert Hill.

Hillyer died July 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, California.^[6]

Filmography

Director

Poster for An Even Break (1917)

Poster for Riddle Gawne (1918)

Online film of Wagon Tracks (1919)

Poster for O'Malley of the Mounted (1921)

Lobby card for Eyes of the Forest (1923)

Poster for Idle Tongues (1924)

Lobby card for Beau Bandit (1930)

Poster for South of the Rio Grande (1932)

Nat Pendleton, Jean Arthur and Jack Holt in The Defense Rests (1934)

Poster for The Invisible Ray (1936)

Poster for Convict's Code (1939)

Year	Title	Notes
1917	An Even Break	Also screenwriter[7]
1917	Strife	[7]
1917	The Narrow Trail	[7]
1918	Riddle Gawne	[7]
1919	Breed of Men	[7]
1919	The Poppy Girl's Husband	[7]
1919	The Money Corral	Also screenwriter[7]
1919	Square Deal Sanderson	Also screenwriter[7]
1919	Wagon Tracks	[7]
1919	John Petticoats	[7]
1920	The Toll Gate	Also screenwriter[7]
1920	Sand!	Also screenwriter[7]
1920	The Cradle of Courage	Also screenwriter[7]
1920	The Testing Block	Also screenwriter[7]
1921	O'Malley of the Mounted	[7]
1921	The Whistle	Also screenwriter[7]
1921	Three Word Brand	Also screenwriter[7]
1921	White Oak	[7]
1922	White Hands	Also screenwriter[7]
1922	Travelin' On	Also screenwriter[7]
1922	Caught Bluffing	[7]
1922	Skin Deep	[7]
1922	The Super-Sex	Also screenwriter[7]
1922	The Altar Stairs	[7]
1923	Scars of Jealousy	Also screenwriter[7]
1923	The Shock	[7]
1923	Temporary Marriage	Also screenwriter[7]
1923	The Spoilers	[7]
1923	The Lone Star Ranger	Also screenwriter[7]
1923	Eyes of the Forest	[7]
1923	Mile-a-Minute Romeo	[7]
1924	Those Who Dance	Also screenwriter[7]
1924	Barbara Frietchie	Also screenwriter[7]
1924	Idle Tongues	[7]
1925	I Want My Man	[7]
1925	The Making of O'Malley	[7]
1925	The Knockout	[7]
1925	The Unguarded Hour	[7]
1926	Her Second Chance	[7]
1926	Miss Nobody	[7]
1926	30 Below Zero	[7]
1927	The War Horse	Also screenwriter[7]
1927	Hills of Peril	[7]
1927	Chain Lightning	Also screenwriter[7]
1928	The Branded Sombrero	Also screenwriter[7]
1928	Fleetwing	Also screenwriter[7]
1930	Beau Bandit	[7]
1931	The Deadline	Also screenwriter[7]
1931	One Man Law	Also screenwriter[7]
1932	The Fighting Fool	[7]
1932	South of the Rio Grande	[7]
1932	Hello Trouble	Also screenwriter[7]
1932	White Eagle	[7]
1932	Forbidden Trail	[7]
1932	Sundown Rider	Also screenwriter[7]
1933	The California Trail	Also screenwriter[7]
1933	Unknown Valley	Also screenwriter[7]
1933	Dangerous Crossroads	[7]
1933	Police Car 17	Also screenwriter[7]
1933	Master of Men	[7]
1933	Before Midnight	[7]
1933	The Fighting Code	Also screenwriter[7]
1934	Once to Every Woman	[7]
1934	The Man Trailer	Also screenwriter[7]
1934	The Most Precious Thing in Life	[7]
1934	The Defense Rests	[7]
1934	Against the Law	[7]
1934	Men of the Night	Also screenwriter[7]
1935	Behind the Evidence	[7]
1935	In Spite of Danger	[7]
1935	Men of the Hour	[7]
1935	The Awakening of Jim Burke	[7]
1935	Superspeed	[7]
1935	Guard That Girl	Also screenwriter[7]
1936	The Invisible Ray	[7]
1936	Dangerous Waters	[7]
1936	Dracula's Daughter	[7]
1937	Speed to Spare	Also screenwriter[7]
1937	Girls Can Play	Also screenwriter[7]
1937	All American Sweetheart	[7]
1938	Women in Prison	[7]
1938	My Old Kentucky Home	[7]
1938	Extortion	Also screenwriter[7]
1938	Gang Bullets	[7]
1939	Convict's Code	[7]
1939	Should a Girl Marry?	[7]
1939	Girl from Rio	[7]
1940	The Durango Kid	[7]
1940	Beyond the Sacramento	[7]
1940	The Wildcat of Tucson	[7][8]
1941	The Pinto Kid	[7]
1941	The Son of Monte Cristo	Second-unit director[7]
1941	North from the Lone Star	[7]
1941	Hands Across the Rockies	[7]
1941	The Medico of Painted Springs	[7]
1941	The Son of Davy Crockett	Also screenwriter[7]
1941	Thunder over the Prairie	[7]
1941	King of Dodge City	[7]
1941	Prairie Stranger	[7]
1941	Roaring Frontiers	[7]
1941	The Royal Mounted Patrol	[7]
1942	The Devil's Trail	[7]
1942	North of the Rockies	[7]
1942	Prairie Gunsmoke	[7]
1942	Vengeance of the West	[7]
1943	Fighting Frontier	[7]
1943	Bombardier	Aerial action sequences (uncredited)[7]
1943	The Stranger from Pecos	[7]
1943	Six Gun Gospel	[7]
1943	Smart Guy	[7]
1943	''The Texas Kid	[7]
1943	Batman	15-part serial[7]
1944	Partners of the Trail	[7]
1944	Law Men	[7]
1944	Range Law	[7]
1944	West of the Rio Grande	[7]
1944	Land of the Outlaws	[7]
1944	Ghost Guns	[7]
1945	Beyond the Pecos	[7]
1945	Flame of the West	[7]
1945	Stranger from Santa Fe	[7]
1945	South of the Rio Grande	[7]
1945	The Lost Trail	[7]
1945	Frontier Feud	[7]
1946	Border Bandits	[7]
1946	Under Arizona Skies	[7]
1946	The Gentleman from Texas	[7]
1946	Silver Range	[7]
1946	Trigger Fingers	[7]
1946	Shadows on the Range	[7]
1947	Raiders of the South	[7]
1947	Valley of Fear	[7]
1947	Land of the Lawless	[7]
1947	The Law Comes to Gunsight	[7]
1947	Trailing Danger	[7]
1947	The Hat Box Mystery	[7]
1947	The Case of the Baby Sitter	[7]
1947	Flashing Guns	[7]
1947	Gun Talk	[7]
1948	Overland Trails	[7]
1948	Song of the Drifter	[7]
1948	Oklahoma Blues	[7]
1948	Crossed Trails	[7]
1948	Partners of the Sunset	[7]
1948	Frontier Agent	[7]
1948	Range Renegades	[7]
1948	The Fighting Ranger	[7]
1948	The Sheriff of Medicine Bow	[7]
1948	Outlaw Brand	[7]
1948	Sundown Riders	[7]
1949	Gun Runner	[7]
1949	Gun Law Justice	[7]
1949	Trails End	[7]
1949	Haunted Trails	[7]
1949	Riders of the Dusk	[7]
1949	Range Land	[7]

Screenwriter

Poster for The Desert Man (1917), scenario by Lambert Hillyer

In addition to writing screenplays for many of the films he directed, as noted above, Hillyer wrote or contributed to the screenplays for these motion pictures.

Year	Title	Notes
1917	They're Off	[7]
1917	The Mother Instinct	[7]
1917	The Desert Man	[7]
1917	The Little Brother	[7]
1917	Love or Justice	[7]
1917	The Snarl	[7]
1917	One Shot Ross	[7]
1917	The Silent Man	[7]
1921	The Man from Lost River	[7]
1930	Hide-Out	[7]
1933	Straightaway	[7]
1933	State Trooper	[7]
1935	Law Beyond the Range	[7]
1937	The Shadow	[7]
1938	Highway Patrol	[7]
1939	Parents on Trial	[7]
1939	The Officer and the Lady	[7]