Born Henri Leopold de Fiennes March 13, 1898, in Sacramento, Calif., Henry Hathaway began his career as a child actor and became an assistant director in the 1920s, perfecting his craft under such notable skippers as Victor Fleming.

After remaking a series of Zane Grey silents (as talkies), Hathaway went on to helm The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), for which he earned an Oscar nomination, and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), Paramount's first Technicolor movie. He adapted to Tinseltown's changing trends in the 1940s, infusing his films with a pseudo-documentary style, as in The House on 92nd Street (1945) and Call Northside 777 (1948). He later tried his hand at film noir with Kiss of Death (1947) and Niagara (1953).

Paired with John Wayne several times, Hathaway directed the Duke to an Oscar-winning performance in 1969's True Grit. Hathaway died from a heart attack Feb. 11, 1985.