Victor Fleming

He married for the first time in 1909 when he was just 20 and his wife Clara West Strouse just 16. The marriage did not last long and they divorced in 1915.

Victor Fleming was a good-looking and charming man who was very popular with women. He was involved in affairs with several actresses, such as Clara Bow, Norma Shearer, Ingrid Bergman, Virginia Valli and Bessie Love.

His second marriage was in 1933 to Lucile Rosson. The couple had two children and remained together until Fleming’s death.

Victor Lonzo Fleming was born on February 23, 1889, on a ranch in La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States, to Elizabeth Evaleen (née Hartman) and William Alonzo "Lon" Fleming. He had two younger sisters.

His father, a citrus farmer, died when Victor was just four. His mother took the children and moved in with her brother who was also a citrus farmer. Victor grew up working on his uncle’s ranch and developed a love for the outdoors. His mother eventually remarried a water-well owner.

He attended the Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles and graduated in 1905. His family wanted him to pursue a teaching or engineering profession but the teenager was not interested. Instead, he sought a life of adventure and was drawn to automobiles that were just emerging on the roads of California.

In 1905, he took up a job as a machinist with Whitesell and Co, one of California's first auto companies. Eventually he became a taxi driver and then a mechanic at the Los Angeles Motor Car Company.

His career as a mechanic led to a chance meeting with director Allan Dwan in 1912. Dwan took the young man as a camera assistant at the Flying A Studios. A quick learner, Fleming wasted no time in rising up to the rank of cinematographer.

In 1915, he joined the recently formed Triangle Studios in New York and worked with D. W. Griffith on several movies including ‘Intolerance’ in 1916.

America entered the World War I in 1917 and Fleming joined the army Signals Corps where he served in the photographic section and was assigned to be the chief photographer for President Woodrow Wilson at the 1918 Peace Conference in Versailles, France.

In 1919, Fleming directed his first feature film, ‘When the Clouds Roll By’, a comedy film starring Douglas Fairbanks. The movie was a tale about a superstitious but ambitious young New Yorker who becomes the victim of demented psychiatrist Dr. Ulrich Metz.

He directed the epic-historical romance film ‘Gone with the Wind’ adapted from Margaret Mitchell’s novel of the same name. The film was immensely popular and received ten Academy Awards from 13 nominations, including a win for Best Director for Fleming. The film is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

The Fleming directed comedy-drama fantasy film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which became popular for its fantasy storytelling, musical score, and unusual characters, is today considered an icon of American popular culture. The movie is often ranked on best-movie lists in critics' and public polls.