King Wallis Vidor

 King Wallis Vidor (February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982)

His career spanned nearly seven decades. In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his "incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator. He was nominated five times for a Best Director Oscar, and won eight international film awards during his career. Vidor's best known films include The Big Parade (1925), The Crowd (1928), Stella Dallas (1937), and Duel in the Sun (1946). (He is not related to fellow director Charles Vidor). Vidor was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest career as a film director: beginning in 1913 with Hurricane in Galveston and ending in 1980 with The Metaphor, a 36-minute documentary featuring the painter Andrew Wyeth. He was nominated five times for an Oscar but never won in direct competition; he received an honorary award in 1979. Vidor published his autobiography, A Tree is a Tree, in 1953. This book's title is inspired by an incident early in Vidor's Hollywood career. Vidor wanted to film a movie in the locations where its story was set, a decision which would have greatly added to the film's production budget. A budget-minded producer told him, "A rock is a rock. A tree is a tree. Shoot it in Griffith Park" (a nearby public space which was frequently used for film exterior shots). Vidor died at age 88 of a heart ailment at his ranch in Paso Robles, California, on November 1, 1982. His remains were cremated and scattered on the ranch property.