Mark Robson

Respected craftsman who began his career as a prop man at Fox in 1932 and became an editor at RKO three years later, assisting Robert Wise on the cutting of two Orson Welles projects ("Citizen Kane" 1941 and "The Magnificent Ambersons" 1942). Robson moved into the director's chair at the behest of horror producer Val Lewton, for whom he engineered two powerful Boris Karloff vehicles, "Isle of the Dead" (1945) and "Bedlam" (1946). Robson's subsequent output as a director included two fine boxing films ("Champion" 1949, "The Harder They Fall" 1956), a probing drama on race relations ("Home of the Brave" 1949) and a brace of hyperactive blockbusters, including "Earthquake" (1974).