Quantcast
Edward F. Cline: American actor and director (1891 - 1961) | Biography
peoplepill id: edward-f-cline
EFC
1 views today
1 views this week
Edward F. Cline
American actor and director

Edward F. Cline

Edward F. Cline
The basics

Quick Facts

Intro American actor and director
A.K.A. Eddie Cline
Was Actor Film director Screenwriter Stage actor Film actor Film producer
From United States of America
Field Film, TV, Stage & Radio
Gender male
Birth 4 November 1891, Kenosha
Death 22 May 1961, Hollywood (aged 69 years)
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Edward Francis Cline ("Eddie") (November 4, 1891 – May 22, 1961) was an American screenwriter, actor, writer and director best known for his work with comedians W. C. Fields and Buster Keaton. He was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and died in Hollywood, California.

Career

Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline in a 1920 advertisement

Edward F. Cline began working for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios in 1914 and supported Charlie Chaplin in some of the shorts he made at the studio. At one time he claimed credit for having come up with the idea for the Sennett Bathing Beauties. When Buster Keaton began making his own shorts, after having worked with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle for years, he hired Cline as his co-director. In Keaton's short films Cline and Keaton himself were the only two regular gag men. For Keaton's 1921 short, Hard Luck, Cline is credited with originating Keaton's personal favorite gag from his films. At the end of the film, Keaton dives into a swimming pool which has been emptied of water. Years later he emerges from the hole which his fall created, accompanied by a Chinese wife and two small Chinese-American children. Besides working on most of Keaton's early shorts, Cline co-directed Keaton's first feature, Three Ages (1923).

Though he worked mostly in comedy, Cline also directed some melodramas and the musical Leathernecking (1930), Irene Dunne's film debut.

Cline began his association with W. C. Fields in the 1932 Paramount film Million Dollar Legs. The film had several veterans of Mack Sennett's Keystone films, including Andy Clyde, Ben Turpin, and Hank Mann. Producer Herman J. Mankiewicz recalled of Cline, "He was very much of the old, old comedy school. He didn't know what was happening in Million Dollar Legs. At all. But he enjoyed doing it, because he had Andy Clyde. And Ben Turpin. And Bill Fields."

During troubles with the shooting of Fields's 1939 film You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, largely resulting from Fields's clashes with director George Marshall, Fields managed to put Cline in the director's chair. Co-star Constance Moore remembered, "Before Mr. Fields did the famous Ping-Pong scene he wanted Mr. Cline. He said, 'I've worked with Cline. He knows my work.' He first put out his feelers. Then he started asking for Cline. Then he demanded him..." Cline's work on the film lasted only ten days during which he shot the party scene containing the ping pong game.

As director of My Little Chickadee (1940), Cline's desire that the actors follow the script caused some difficulties with Fields, until Cline finally submitted to Fields's tendency to ad-lib. Cline objected to the ad-libbing because it caused the crew to laugh, and Cline's own laughter necessitated a quick cut at the end of one of Fields's barroom scenes.

Cline directed Fields's last two starring films, The Bank Dick (1940) and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). Recalling their work together, Cline said that Fields chose him to direct his films because he was the only person in Hollywood who knew "less about making movies" than Fields himself. Assistant director Edward Montagne remembered, "Fields and Cline were basically the same type. They both had great comedy sense... With actors, if he thought they were on the right track, he'd let them go."

Universal Pictures, which had hired Cline to direct Fields, released Fields in 1941 but retained Cline, signing him to a new contract. Cline went on to direct many of the studio's musical comedies, starring Gloria Jean, The Ritz Brothers, and Olsen and Johnson, among many others. He was dismissed, along with other directors, producers, and actors, when new owners took over the studio in 1945. Cline moved over to Monogram Pictures, directing and/or writing the studio's "Jiggs and Maggie" comedies. The last one, in 1950, was co-directed by veteran William Beaudine; it signaled the end of Eddie Cline's movie career.

Television

Cline became a pioneer in television when his old crony, Buster Keaton, became one of the first movie comedians to succeed in the new medium. Keaton and Cline collaborated on two of Keaton's series.

Comic bandleader Spike Jones was famous for using wild visual gags in his band's performances, and his television show required even more material. Jones found an ideal resource in Eddie Cline, whose knack for comedy (and long memory for old sight gags) made him a valuable assistant. Cline remained in Jones's employ well into the 1950s.

Personal life

In 1913, Cline became engaged to Minnie Elizabeth Matheis, aged 18, who had previously been engaged three times in three months. They married on March 6, 1916. In 1918, they had a daughter, named Elizabeth Normand; Minnie contracted an infection in childbirth and died four days later.

In 1919, Cline married Beatrice Altman. They had no children. She died in 1949.

Cline died of cirrhosis in 1961.

Partial filmography

Cline is credited as director unless noted. He directed nearly sixty Mack Sennett comedies between 1914 and 1933.

Year Title Notes
1914 The Rounders Short film; actor only
1916 His Bread and Butter Short film
1920 One Week Short film; also screenwriter
1920 Convict 13 Short film; also screenwriter, actor
1920 Neighbors Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1920 The Scarecrow Short film; also screenwriter
1921 The Haunted House Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1921 Hard Luck Short film; also screenwriter
1921 The High Sign Short film; also screenwriter
1921 The Goat Short film; actor only
1921 The Playhouse Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1921 The Boat Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1922 The Paleface Short film; also screenwriter
1922 Cops Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1922 My Wife's Relations Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1922 The Frozen North Short film; also screenwriter
1922 The Electric House Short film; also screenwriter
1922 Daydreams Short film; also screenwriter and actor
1923 The Balloonatic Short film; also screenwriter
1923 The Love Nest Short film; also screenwriter
1923 Circus Days
1923 Three Ages Co-director (with Buster Keaton)
1923 The Meanest Man in the World
1924 Along Came Ruth
1924 Little Robinson Crusoe
1924 Captain January
1925 The Rag Man
1925 Old Clothes
1926 Flirty Four-Flushers
1927 Let It Rain
1927 Soft Cushions
1929 The Forward Pass
1930 Hook, Line and Sinker
1930 Leathernecking
1931 Cracked Nuts
1932 Million Dollar Legs
1934 The Dude Ranger
1934 Peck's Bad Boy
1935 When a Man's a Man
1935 It's A Great Life
1937 Forty Naughty Girls
1939 You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1940 My Little Chickadee
1940 The Bank Dick
1941 Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
1942 Give Out, Sisters
1942 What's Cookin'?
1942 Behind the Eight Ball
1943 Crazy House
1944 Hat Check Honey
1944 Ghost Catchers
1945 Penthouse Rhythm
1946 Bringing up Father
1947 Jiggs and Maggie in Society Also screenwriter
1947 Jiggs and Maggie in Court Also screenwriter
1949 Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters Screenwriter only
1950 Jiggs and Maggie Out West Co-director (with William Beaudine) and screenwriter
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 09 Aug 2019. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
Search trend
comments so far.
Comments
From our partners
Sponsored
Reference sources
References
http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1395ca4
http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_DIRECTOR&ID=45158&AN_ID=15049&searchedFor=Edward_F._Cline_
https://archive.org/search.php?query=((subject:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20subject:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20subject:%22Cline,%20E.%20F.%22%20OR%20subject:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20subject:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20subject:%22E.%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20subject:%22Cline,%20Edward%22%20OR%20subject:%22Edward%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22E.%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22E.%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20creator:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20creator:%22Cline,%20E.%20F.%22%20OR%20creator:%22Cline,%20E.%20F.%22%20OR%20creator:%22Edward%20Cline%22%20OR%20creator:%22Cline,%20Edward%22%20OR%20title:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20title:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20title:%22E.%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20title:%22Edward%20Cline%22%20OR%20description:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20description:%22Edward%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20description:%22E.%20F.%20Cline%22%20OR%20description:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20description:%22Cline,%20Edward%20F.%22%20OR%20description:%22Edward%20Cline%22%20OR%20description:%22Cline,%20Edward%22)%20OR%20(%221891-1961%22%20AND%20Cline))%20AND%20(-mediatype:software)
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166836/
http://catalogo.bne.es/uhtbin/authoritybrowse.cgi?action=display&authority_id=XX1170199
https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb144597414
https://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb144597414
https://d-nb.info/gnd/139319832
http://isni.org/isni/0000000115791106
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87896290
https://aleph.nkp.cz/F/?func=find-c&local_base=aut&ccl_term=ica=xx0153075&CON_LNG=ENG
https://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35513079
http://data.bibliotheken.nl/id/thes/p337242720
http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6x94bdb
https://www.idref.fr/086019260
https://viaf.org/viaf/100600846
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/containsVIAFID/100600846
Sections Edward F. Cline

arrow-left arrow-right instagram whatsapp myspace quora soundcloud spotify tumblr vk website youtube pandora tunein iheart itunes