Richard Quine

Richard Quine (born November 12, 1920, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.—died June 10, 1989, Los Angeles, California) was an American television and film director who was perhaps best known for his comedic movies from the 1950s and ’60s.

The son of an actor, Quine began performing on the vaudeville stage as a child. He worked his way up from radio to films, taking his first screen role in Mervyn LeRoy’s The World Changes in 1933. However, he never graduated from supporting parts, and after 15 years of acting he decided to step behind the camera. Quine eventually became a reliable director for Columbia, where he spent his first 12 years, specializing in comedy and often adapting Broadway plays.

In 1948 Quine codirected (with William Asher) the boxing yarn Leather Gloves, but he then returned to acting and did not take his first solo feature-film directing credit until 1951, with Sunny Side of the Street, a low-budget musical featuring Terry Moore and singer Frankie Laine. The comedy Sound Off starred Mickey Rooney, and Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder (both 1952) was another Laine musical; Quine cowrote the latter with Blake Edwards, and the two collaborated on several other screenplays. After Siren of Bagdad (1953) and several forgettable films, Quine garnered attention for Pushover (1954), a film noir starring Fred MacMurray and new discovery Kim Novak, who soon became Columbia’s premier glamour girl.

Quine’s subsequent assignments improved markedly. My Sister Eileen (1955), starring Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Jack Lemmon, was a crisp musical version of the former Broadway success and became Quine’s first real hit. The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) was a showcase for the comic genius of Judy Holliday, who also delivered as Richard Conte’s very pregnant wife in Full of Life (1956). Bell, Book and Candle (1958), adapted from a Broadway play, featured Novak as a witch who casts a spell on her neighbour (James Stewart), much to the amusement of his pal (Ernie Kovacs). In 1959 Lemmon reteamed with Quine on the comedy It Happened to Jane, which also starred Doris Day.

Quine examined adultery in Strangers When We Meet (1960), with the cheating couple played by Kirk Douglas and Novak. In the romance The World of Suzie Wong (1960), William Holden was cast as an aspiring artist anguishing over a prostitute (played by Nancy Kwan). The Notorious Landlady (1962), which Quine wrote with Larry Gelbart, was a black comedy starring Novak and Lemmon, and Paris When It Sizzles (1964) paired Audrey Hepburn and Holden. In 1964 Quine also directed Sex and the Single Girl, which featured Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood; the romantic comedy had little to do with Helen Gurley Brown’s how-to guide. How to Murder Your Wife (1965) was a deft black comedy starring Lemmon as a man who fantasizes about killing his spouse (Virna Lisi).

Synanon (1965) was a lugubrious drama about the famed drug-rehabilitation centre, but Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad (1967), with Rosalind Russell and Robert Morse, was a tart adaptation of Arthur Kopit’s dark Broadway comedy. Quine helmed the star-studded Hotel (1967), which was based on Arthur Hailey’s best seller, before focusing on television in the 1970s, directing several episodes of the crime series Columbo. Quine’s last films were the thriller W (1974), which may best be remembered for providing fashion model Twiggy with her most dramatic role, and The Prisoner of Zenda (1979), in which Peter Sellers, as he had done so often before, starred in multiple roles. In 1989 Quine died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.