Delmer Daves
Delmer Daves was an influential American filmmaker born on July 24, 1904, in San Francisco, California. He had a rich background that included experiences living with Hopi and Navajo communities, which later informed his work in Western films. Though he earned a law degree from Stanford University, he gravitated towards the film industry, starting his career in the 1920s as a property assistant and technical advisor at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Daves became a prolific screenwriter, crafting nearly fifty original stories, adaptations, and screenplays across various genres, including Westerns, musicals, and mysteries, from 1929 to 1965. He transitioned into directing in the early 1940s, helming well-known films such as "3:10 to Yuma" and "Broken Arrow." Recognition for his contributions came later in his life, including a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for "Cowboy." Daves was also honored with a special award from the Western Heritage Association and was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. He passed away on August 17, 1977, leaving behind a legacy that influenced both film and television, notably through "Spencer's Mountain," which inspired the series "The Waltons."
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Delmer Daves
Screenwriter
- Born: July 24, 1904
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California
- Died: August 17, 1977
- Place of death: La Jolla, California
Biography
Delmer Lawrence Daves was born on July 24, 1904, in San Francisco, California, the son of businessman Arthur Lawrence Daves and his wife, Nan Funge Daves, and the grandson of a Civil War veteran who became one of the first riders for the Pony Express. As a youth, Daves lived for a time on reservations with Hopi and Navajo Indians, an experience that would influence his later career, when he wrote and directed Western films. He also cultivated an early interest in calligraphy, which would be of more immediate benefit.
Daves’s artistic bent landed him jobs in teaching, drafting, and designing, and the proceeds enabled him to finance his college education. He earned a law degree from Stanford University in 1927, but he never used it because he had already been lured into the world of motion pictures. In 1915, he appeared in a silent version of A Christmas Carol, and in 1923 he was hired as a property assistant for The Covered Wagon. His career in the movies soon flourished. While working in the property department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios, Daves also appeared, often without screen credit, in a dozen films between 1928 and 1932, most notably The Bishop Murder Case (1930). More importantly, he began serving as technical advisor, particularly on college-oriented films, and soon became a staff writer.
Between 1929 and 1965, working alone or in collaboration with other writers, Daves contributed original stories, treatments, adaptations, dialogue, and screenplays for almost fifty theatrical releases. He became known for his ability to create characters and realistically depict their relationships. He wrote screenplays in a variety of genres, including musicals, lighthearted romances, war stories, mysteries, crime stories, and Westerns.
After 1943, Daves began directing many of the features he wrote as well as a number of films written by other screenwriters, directing about thirty films by the mid-1960’s. He also produced several films beginning in the 1950’s. Some of the best-known films he directed were Broken Arrow, Demetrius and the Gladiators, 3:10 to Yuma, The Bandlanders, Rome Adventure, and Youngblood Hawke.
A steady and unspectacular but usually profitable filmmaker and an accomplished script doctor, Daves was recognized for his abilities late in his life. He received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for his work on Cowboy, which was released in 1958. He wrote, directed, and produced Spencer’s Mountain (1963), which later served as the basis for the television series The Waltons. For his work on Western films, he received a special trustee’s award from the Western Heritage Association and was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Daves was married to actress Mary Lawrence from 1938 until his death on August 17, 1977. They were the parents of television and film director Michael Daves (also known as Mike Lawrence) and Deborah Daves, who as a child appeared in two of her father’s films, Dark Passage and Destination Tokyo.