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Roy Rowland studied law at the University of Southern California, then joined MGM as a script clerk. As if getting that job wasn't enough good luck in the middle of the Depression, he also married the niece of MGM chief Louis B. Mayer.

He sharpened his directing chops at MGM with a series of shorts starting in the 1930s, then moved up to features in 1943. He spent quite a bit of time at the studio, from 1943-51 and again from 1954-58. While not one of the studio's top-rank directors, he could be counted on to deliver sold "B" pictures--which, at MGM, were often better than most other studios' "A" pictures--and an occasional "A" production, in a variety of genres, including musicals (Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)) and dramas (Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)). He was also responsible for the tough, fast-paced Rogue Cop (1954), one of the few MGM films that could be considered "film noir".

The last film he made at MGM was a "B" western with Stewart Granger, Gun Glory (1957), after which he made an action picture for independent release based on a Mickey Spillane "Mike Hammer" novel starring Spillane himself (The Girl Hunters (1963)), and then he traveled to Europe for a string of Italian-made westerns and costume dramas. His final film as director was a somewhat cheesy pirate movie (he was uncredited; his Italian co-director Sergio Bergonzelli got sole credit)) called Il grande colpo di Surcouf (1966). He was associate producer on Nathan Juran's Italian-shot Land Raiders (1969), after which he retired. He was the father of actor Steve Rowland.

Roy Rowland died in 1995, at age 84, in Orange, California..

Former University of Southern California law student, who joined MGM as script clerk and had the good fortune to marry the niece of Louis B. Mayer. After directing a series of short featurettes during the 1930s, he moved up to feature films (MGM contract, 1943-51 and 1954-58). Most were B-movies, but he occasionally handled such A-graders as <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0037963/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)</a> and <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0049490/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)</a>. After leaving MGM, he made a trio of spaghetti westerns in Italy.

Father of actor <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0746743/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Steve Rowland</a>

Contrary to popular websites, his birth year is 1902, not 1910.

Trivia

Roy Rowland

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