Born August 12, 1912, in Worcester, MA; died of natural causes, October 30, 1997, in Hollywood Hills, CA. Journalist, director, producer, writer. Fuller,who gained more popularity in Europe than he did in the United States, was anacclaimed director of low- budget films. In movies such as I Shot Jesse James, Fixed Bayonets, Shock Corridor, White Dog, and The Big Red One, Fuller penned the screenplays as well as directed. The Big Red One, released in 1980, was a semi-autobiographical account of his experiences during World War II. Hehad recorded his experiences with the combat infantry in diaries, which he later used to script the film. Fuller mainly used black and white photographyfor his tales and filmed them fast on a shoe-string budget. Fuller began hiscareer as a journalist, first working as a copyboy for Arthur Brisbane of theNew York Evening Journal. His later reporting pursuits took him to the New York Evening Graphic and the San Diego Sun. His first motion picture screenplays were Hats Off and It Happened in Hollywood, both released in 1937. After writing and directing a few films in the 1940s, with time out for service in the U.S. Army, he began filmmaking in earnest in the 1950s with productions such as The Baron of Arizona, Scandal Sheet, Pickup on South Street, Forty Guns, and China Gate. In the 1960s he remade Pickup on South Street as Capetown Affair, and created films such as Merrill's Marauders and The Naked Kiss. Hislater films included The Big Red One, Street of No Return, and White Dog. Heappeared in numerous films, including All Night Long and Hammett. According to the New York Times, "Fuller objected to his films being called B-movies. Hesaid that to him, a B-movie was 'a $20 million film with no content,' adding'I always thought that "A" and "B" should stand for content, not how much apicture costs.'" In addition to his film career, he appeared in the television production of The Blood of Others and directed and wrote episodes of The Virginian and The Iron Horse. Fuller also established himself as a writer of fiction with Burn, Baby, Burn!, The Dark Page, Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street,and Pecos Bill and the Soho Kid.
November 12, 2004: A newly restored version of Fuller's 1980 film The Big Red One, containing 40 minutes cut from the original released, premiered in New York. Source: New York Times, www.nytimes.com, November 12, 2004.
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