Mitchell Leisen

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Director | Producer Born Oct. 6, 1898 in Menominee, MI

Producer-director Mitchell Leisen was also a well-known designer and decorator of homes.

Leisen attended attended Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and worked in the advertising art department of the Chicago and as an architect in Chicago before coming to Hollywood in the mid-1920s.

He was an art director on Cecil B. DeMille pictures for 12 years, also working as assistant director and assistant producer, and in 1935 entered the ranks of directors with "Cradle Song," starring Dorothy Weick.

His subsequent pictures included "The Eagle and the Hawk," "Easy Living," "I Wanted Wings," "Lady in the Dark," "Kitty," "Golden Earrings," "Hold Back the Dawn" and "To Each His Own."

In addition to his career as a motion picture director and art director, for several years he operated his own men's clothing store in Beverly Hills.

Leisen was art director for several Academy Awards productions and was one of the earliest motion picture directors to enter the television field, first as director of special films and then as director of the Shirley Temple Storybook Series.

— Los Angeles Times Oct. 31, 1972

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• Rites set for director Mitchell Leisen