Frank Wright Tuttle

 Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963)

Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (The Cradle Buster) to 1959 (Island of Lost Women).His first credit in the movie industry was as a screenwriter for the Monte Blue picture The Kentuckians (1921) in 1921 for Famous Players-Lasky (Paramount). He made his directorial debut the following year with the melodrama The Cradle Buster (1922), starring Osgood Perkins. A contract director at Paramount, he directed 73 more films until he retired in 1959. His output included films ranging from the classic This Gun for Hire (1942)--the film that made Alan Ladd a star--to the Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy farce Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939). Tuttle became notorious during the Hollywood Red Scare for his associations with the American Communist Party, revealed in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Tuttle, who was a member of the Communist party, initially refused to give up names and his career was halted. However, after being unable to find work in the US, he went back to the House committee and gave up names. Avoiding the blacklist by his public show of contrition, Tuttle continued to direct in Hollywood. Tuttle died in Hollywood, California, on January 6, 1963, aged 70. He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park.