Quick Facts
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Roy William Neill (4 September 1887 – 14 December 1946) was an Irish-born American film director best known for directing the last eleven of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, made between 1943 and 1946 and released by Universal Studios.
Biography
With his father as the captain, Roy William Neill was born on a ship off the coast of Ireland.His birth name was Roland de Gostrie.Neill began directing silent films in 1917 and went on to helm 107 films, 40 of them silent. Although most of Neill's films were low-budget B-movies, he was known for directing films with meticulously lit scenes with carefully layered shadows that would become the style of film noir in the late 1940s.In fact, his last film, Black Angel (1946), is considered a film noir.
He was also credited in some works as R. William Neill, Roy W. Neill, and Roy Neill.Neill lived in the United States for most of his career and was a US citizen.He did go to London from 1935 until 1940 where better opportunities existed for American directors.During this period, British film producer Edward Black hired Neill to direct The Lady Vanishes.However, due to delays in production, Black hired Alfred Hitchcock to direct instead.
Neill died in London, England, from a heart attack.
Partial filmography
- The Mother Instinct (1917)
- The Glory, Girl (1917)
- The Price Mark (1917)
- Love Letters (1917)
- Flare-Up Sal (1918)
- Free and Equal (1918)
- Love Me (1918)
- Tyrant Fear (1918)
- The Mating of Marcella (1918)
- The Kaiser's Shadow (1918)
- They're Off (1918)
- Green Eyes (1918)
- Vive la France! (1918)
- Puppy Love (1919)
- Charge It to Me (1919)
- The Career of Katherine Bush (1919)
- Trixie from Broadway (1919)
- The Bandbox (1919)
- The Woman Gives (1920)
- Yes or No? (1920)
- Something Different (1920)
- Good References (1920)
- Dangerous Business (1920)
- The Inner Voice (1920)
- The Idol of the North (1921)
- The Conquest of Canaan (1921)
- The Iron Trail (1921)
- The Man From M.A.R.S. (1922)
- What's Wrong with the Women? (1922)
- Toilers of the Sea (1923)
- Vanity's Price (1924)
- Broken Laws (1924)
- By Divine Right (1924)
- Percy (1925)
- The Kiss Barrier (1925)
- Greater Than a Crown (1925)
- Marriage in Transit (1925)
- The Cowboy and the Countess (1926)
- The Fighting Buckaroo (1926)
- A Man Four-Square (1926)
- Black Paradise (1926)
- The City (1926)
- The Arizona Wildcat (1927)
- Marriage (1927)
- Cleopatra (1928)
- The Viking (1928)
- Lady Raffles (1928)
- San Francisco Nights (1928)
- The Olympic Hero (1928)
- Wall Street (1929)
- Behind Closed Doors (1929)
- The Melody Man (1930)
- Cock 'o the Walk (1930)
- Just Like Heaven (1930)
- Fifty Fathoms Deep (1931)
- The Avenger (1931)
- The Good Bad Girl (1931)
- That's My Boy (1932)
- The Menace (1932)
- As the Devil Commands (1932)
- The Circus Queen Murder (1933)
- Fury of the Jungle (1933)
- Above the Clouds (1933)
- The Ninth Guest (1934)
- Jealousy (1934)
- Blind Date (1934)
- Black Moon (1934)
- Whirlpool (1934)
- Mills of the Gods (1934)
- I'll Fix It (1934)
- The Black Room (1935)
- The Lone Wolf Returns (1935)
- Eight Bells (1935)
- Doctor Syn (1937)
- Gypsy (1937)
- Thank Evans (1938) British
- Many Tanks Mr. Atkins (1938)
- Quiet Please (1938)
- Double or Quits (1938)
- Simply Terrific (1938)
- The Viper (1938)
- Everything Happens to Me (1938)
- Murder Will Out (1939)
- The Good Old Days (1939)
- A Gentleman's Gentleman (1939)
- Hoots Mon! (1940)
- His Brother's Keeper (1940)
- Eyes of the Underworld (1942)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)
- Madame Spy (1942)
- Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
- Rhythm of the Islands (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
- The Spider Woman (1943)
- The Scarlet Claw (1944)
- Gypsy Wildcat (1944)
- The Pearl of Death (1944)
- Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear (1945)
- Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
- The Woman in Green (1945)
- Terror by Night (1946)
- Dressed to Kill (1946)
- Black Angel (1946)
