Tay Garnett

Stars

Veteran film director and writer Tay Garnett worked on many of the major motion pictures of the 1930s and 1940s.

He was a writer for Mack Sennett in the silent days, grinding out gags for the likes of Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Chester Conklin. He learned his trade at the rough-and-tumble Sennett studios, lost his illusion but kept his tough, bright humor and his knack for comedy timing.

Pictures such as "China Seas," "Stand-In," "Seven Sinners," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and "Soldiers" are full of impish, hard-bitten humor, in which pompous blockheads are cut down to size, pretty girls get more than their share of the angles and handsome men invariably conquer the villain.

Other films included "Mrs. Parkington," "Trade Winds," "One Way Passage" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

Garnett wrote or coauthored many screenplays, including "Trade Winds," which starred Fredric March and Joan Bennett.

His writing included a novel, "Man Laughs Back," and a 1973 book of Hollywood anecdotes he coauthored under the title, "Light Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights."

— Jack Jones and Charles Higham in the Los Angeles Times Oct. 5, 1977 and Oct. 16, 1977