Joseph Santley

Joseph Santley went on stage as a child with his parents, and appeared in summer stock and on tours, where he was billed as "The World's Greatest Boy Actor." He appeared on the New York stage beginning in 1910, and it was only during the '20s that he turned to film work at Paramount's Long Island City studio -- in 1929, he made his first feature film, The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers, co-directing with Robert Florey, although he didn't remain at Paramount, and moved between Pathe, Monogram, Mascot, and Republic Pictures throughout the '30s, before brief stints at MGM before going over to RKO for two years at the end of the decade. Most of his best subsequent mork was done at Republic, including the comedy Sis Hopkins, the Gene Autry vehicle Melody Ranch, and the wartime drama Remember Pearl Harbor. He left feature films in 1950 and moved to television, where he directed variety shows for such figures as Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante. - Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide