Richard Fleischer

Overview

Richard firmly established his credentials with such epics as The Vikings (1958) , 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and Barabbas (1961) and also proved to be a master of intimate drama with Compulsion (1959) , which won Cannes Festival awards for the male stars. He won an Academy Award for one of his earliest films - a documentary Design for Death (1947) . In 1947 the rapidly rising director met Stanley Kramer and Carl Foreman who hired him for their first film together So This Is New York (1948) , One of his most memorable accomplishments 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) which grossed well over $25 million since it's release in 1953.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

His father's animation studios was one of the biggest competitors to Walt Disney's studio. Ironically, Disney ended up hiring Richard to direct this feature, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).
At his LA mansion, had a pool in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head.
Replaced other directors on at least five pictures: His Kind of Woman (John Farrow), The Last Run (John Huston), Mandingo (Michael Campus), Ashanti (Richard C. Sarafian), and The Jazz Singer (Sidney J. Furie). He earned a reputation as a reliable "ringer" and a journeyman.
Son of animator Max Fleischer.
Fleischer was born into a showbusiness family, but harboured ambitions of becoming a psychiatrist. He abandoned medical studies, however, in favour of a drama course at Yale University. At Yale, he established the Arena Players theatre group, acting as producer and director for all of their staged plays.

I liked the first Conan film [Conan the Barbarian (1982)] very much; in fact, I saw a lot of The Vikings (1958) in it. It was a very well-made film, and it had many excellent dramatic qualities. [John Milius] gave it a sort of Wagnerian feel. I thought he did an excellent job. It was a heavy picture, but then the theme was very heavy - and it was imaginative in its design. Its problems came because it, for the most part, lacked humor. There were some jokes, but too much of the film was unrelieved drama.
The Happy Time (1952) was exactly the kind of film I was looking for - a human comedy about a young boy's coming of age. No melodrama, no murders, no evil wooden puppets!
Every silver lining has a black, ugly cloud hanging over it.
[on George C. Scott] George just likes to block a scene out in a routine way. And then he does it and we shoot. He starts really acting when the camera goes. And throughout a film, 90% of the "takes" I've printed with George Scott in them have been first or second takes. And if I have to use the second "take," it's because in the first one something mechanical went wrong or some other actor blew a line.
[on working with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Conan the Destroyer (1984)] Arnold has done a fantastic job -- and real progress in this art of acting, but as he has an accent I've been obliged to work him twice as hard.