Biography

Jack Arnold

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Overview

Born
October 14, 1912 · New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Died
March 17, 1992 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (arteriosclerosis)
Birth name
Jack Arnold Waks

Biography

Jack Arnold reigns supreme as one of the great directors of 1950s science-fiction features. His films are distinguished by moody black and white cinematography, solid acting, smart, thoughtful scripts, snappy pacing, a genuine heartfelt enthusiasm for the genre and plenty of eerie atmosphere.

Arnold was born on October 14, 1912, in New Haven, Connecticut. He began his show business career as an actor in both on- and off-Broadway stage productions in the late 1930s and early 1940s; among the plays he appeared in are "The Time of Your Life," "Juke Box Jenny," "Blind Alibi," "China Passage," and "We're on the Jury." Arnold served in the US Army in the Signal Corps during World War II. He apprenticed under famous documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. Following his tour of duty Jack started making short films and documentaries. One short, With These Hands (1950), was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. Arnold made his theatrical movie debut with the B picture Girls in the Night (1953). He then did his first foray into the science-fiction genre: the supremely spooky It Came from Outer Space (1953). Jack achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), a scary yet poetic reworking of "Beauty and the Beast". Revenge of the Creature (1955) was a worthy sequel. Tarantula (1955) was likewise a lot of fun. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) rates highly as Arnold's crowning cinematic achievement; it's an intelligent and entertaining classic that's lost none of its potency throughout the years.

Arnold's final two genre entries were the enjoyable Monster on the Campus (1958) and the offbeat The Space Children (1958). His other movies are a pretty varied and interesting bunch, including the hugely successful The Mouse That Roared (1959) (which helped to establish Peter Sellers as an international star), the teen exploitation gem High School Confidential! (1958), the superior Audie Murphy western No Name on the Bullet (1959), the goofy comedy Hello Down There (1969) and the silly softcore romp The Bunny Caper (1974).

In addition to his film work, Arnold also directed episodes of such TV shows as Science Fiction Theatre (1955), Peter Gunn (1958), Perry Mason (1957), Rawhide (1959), Gilligan's Island (1964), The Mod Squad (1968), Wonder Woman (1975), The Love Boat (1977), The Bionic Woman (1976) and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979).

The father of producer/casting director Susan Arnold, Jack Arnold died at age 79 on March 17, 1992.
- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

Family

Spouse
Children

Trivia

As a director, he said he liked to think of the movie screen as a traditional proscenium-arch stage into which people and objects could abruptly enter as if coming in from the wings. He often used this technique for shock effect, as in It Came from Outer Space (1953) when Russell Johnson's hand suddenly reaches in from the side of the screen to touch a startled Barbara Rush on the shoulder.
He was the director of The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967) special on CBS; it won an Emmy for outstanding variety special of 1967.
Some time after The Lost World (1960) came out, Universal Pictures planned to remake the Arthur Conan Doyle classic in the U. K. with Arnold directing. It was a project he wanted badly to do, but according to friend and former star John Agar, the studio canceled the project because of Arnold's health issues.
He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
Father of two daughters: Susan Arnold Jacobson (casting director Susan Arnold) and Kathy Arnold.

Quotes

I love science fiction. As a youngster, I used to buy all the pulp magazines. I loved them. I was very pleased when I was assigned to direct my first SF film because I was still an avid fan. The more I did this type of film the better I liked it, because the studio left me alone. Fortunately, no one at that time at the studio was an expert at directing SF films, so I claimed to be one. I wasn't, of course, but the studio didn't know that. So they never argued with me.