Walter Lang

In 1937, Lang married Madalynne Field, a former actress and a close friend of Carole Lombard. Before her marriage, she often acted as Carole’s secretary. Their son, Richard Lang, later followed his father’s footstep and became a renowned director.

Walter Lang died on February 7, 1972 and was buried in the Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Inglewood, California.

Walter Lang was born on August 10, 1896 in Memphis, Tennessee. Not much is known about his early life except that during the First World War he served the US Army in France. On coming back to the US at the end of the war, he obtained a clerical job in a film production company in New York.

Soon he became interested in film direction and started watching the directors at work. Subsequently, he was appointed an Assistant Director and began to work under different directors in small companies. It was not until 1925 that he got his first chance to direct his own film.

In 1925, Dorothy Davenport appointed Lang as the director of her production ‘The Red Kimono’. The silent film was based on the life of a prostitute, whose real name was used. Because of it, Davenport was successfully sued by the prostitute for a hefty amount.

However, Lang continued making films and over the next four years, he was able to make a dozen more silent films. ‘The Spirit of Youth’, released in 1929, was the last film of this lot.

His first Pre Code film, ‘Hello Sister’, was released on February 15, 1930. In the same year he made ‘Cock O’ the Walk’, ‘The Big Fight’, ‘The Costello Case’ and ‘The Brothers’. Among them ‘The Brothers’, released by Columbia Pictures, then a minor studio, made some impact.

In 1931, he made ‘Command Performances’, ‘Hell Bound’ and ‘Women Go on Forever’. Fed up of working with small companies, he decided to go to France and try his hand at painting.

In France, he spent sometime in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, but soon realized he was not cut out to be a painter. Therefore, he returned to the U.S.A and made his second film with Columbia Pictures, Titled ‘No More Orchids’. the film was released on November 25, 1932. It starred Carole Lombard as Ann Holt; but unfortunately, it was not very successful at the box office. In spite of that, Lang continued making films.

’The Little Princess’ (1939), ’Tin Pan Alley’ (1940), ‘Moon Over Miami’ (1941), ‘Coney Island’ (1943) and ‘There's No Business Like Show Business’ (1954) are some of Lang’s more significant works.

His finest work is ‘King and I’ (1956), which tells the story about a strong-willed, widowed schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who arrives in Bangkok from Wales, with her young son Louis, as the tutor of King Mongkut’s many children. Made with a budget of $4.55 million, it earned $21.3 million at the box office and received great critical acclaim.