(born May 30, 1896, Goshen, Ind., U.S.—died Dec. 26, 1977, Palm Springs, Calif.) U.S.
motion-picture director who maintained a consistent personal style within the framework of the traditional film genres. His pictures, which starred Hollywood's most noted actors, were marked by the effective establishment and sustenance of mood and by an intimacy created by filming from the eye level of a spectator.
![(From left) Lauren Bacall, Marcel Dalio, and Humphrey Bogart in <i>To Have and Have </i>&elipsis; [Credit: © 1945 Warner Brothers, Inc.; photograph from a private collection]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/90704.gif)
(From left) Lauren Bacall, Marcel Dalio, and Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have &elipsis; [Credit: © 1945 Warner Brothers, Inc.; photograph from a private collection]Hawks was a professional race-car driver before going to Hollywood in 1922 as a director.
A Girl in Every Port (1928), his first important picture, was followed by internationally popular features that included the adventure films
The Dawn Patrol (1930),
Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and
Hatari! (1962); the crime films
Scarface (1932),
To Have and Have Not (1944), and
The Big Sleep (1946); and the westerns
Red River (1948),
Rio Bravo (1959), and
El Dorado (1967).
![(From left) Cary Grant, Billy Gilbert, Rosalind Russell, and Clarence Kolb in <i>His </i>&elipsis; [Credit: © 1940 Columbia Pictures Corporation; photograph from a private collection]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/90732.gif)
(From left) Cary Grant, Billy Gilbert, Rosalind Russell, and Clarence Kolb in His &elipsis; [Credit: © 1940 Columbia Pictures Corporation; photograph from a private collection]Hawks's heroes in his adventure, crime, and western films are essentially professionals, men who quietly accept the often dangerous responsibilities of their careers. In comedies such as
Twentieth Century (1934),
Bringing Up Baby (1938), and
His Girl Friday (1940) the treatment of the hero is reversed; his self-respect is diminished, often by a woman.
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