King Wallis Vidor (1894-1982) made over fifty feature films and received five Academy Award nominations before retiring from films in the late 1950s. His directorial debut was The turn in the road (1919), but he is best known for The big parade (1925), The champ (1931), and Duel in the sun (1947). The collection contains annotated scripts, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera for 22 films Vidor produced or directed including The big parade, Duel in the sun, Northwest passage, and Stella dallas.

King Wallis Vidor was born February 8, 1894 in Galveston, Texas; made fifty-six feature films in forty years; married Florence Arto, 1915 (divorced 1925); married Eleanor Boardman, 1926 (later divorced); married Elizabeth Hill; his directorial debut was The turn in the road (1919); made Hallelujah! (1929), the first sound picture with an all black cast; best known for The big parade (1925), The crowd (1928), The champ (1931), Stella Dallas (1937), and Duel in the sun (1947); wrote an autobiography, A tree is a tree (1953); retired from films in the late 1950s; taught a graduate cinema class during the 1960s at UCLA; received Edinburgh Film Festival award for career achievements, 1964; after receiving five Academy Award nominations during the course of his career, he was granted a special award for his innovations in cinema, 1979; died of congestive heart failure, Paso Robles, California, on November 1, 1982.

7.0 linear ft. (14 boxes)

Property rights to the physical object belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.