Occupation Director Spouse Dorothy Atkins Role Director | Name Tommy Atkins Years active 1920–35 | |
Died June 18, 1968, Los Angeles, California, United States Movies The Silver Streak, Hi, Gaucho!, Mutiny Ahead Similar People Edward Earle, Leon Ames, Steffi Duna, Noel Francis, William Farnum | ||
Tommy atkins by roger moore
Tommy Atkins was an American director of the silent and early sound film eras. Born on July 18, 1887 in Springfield, Massachusetts, he would make his entrance into the film industry as the assistant director to Ralph Ince on the 1920 silent film, Out of the Snows. It would be another eight years before he would make another film, again as assistant director, this time for FBO Pictures, on another silent film, Crooks Can't Win. He'd work as the assistant director on another sixteen films between 1928 and 1934, the most notable of which would be 1933's Morning Glory, directed by Lowell Sherman and starring Katharine Hepburn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.. In 1934 he would be given the chance to helm his first picture, The Silver Streak, which was one of the top money-makers for RKO Pictures that year. He would only direct two more films, the second of which, Hi, Gaucho!, he would also write the story for.
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After Hi, Gaucho!, Atkins appears to have left the film industry for the most part, although he did return in 1940 as an associate producer on the Academy Award-nominated docudrama, The Fight For Life, which was directed by Pare Lorentz, who also produced the film for the United States Film Service. Atkins died on June 18, 1968 in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
(Per AFI database)
All positions were as assistant director except where noted.