Don Siegel

Don Siegel was an American director, producer and editor. Born in Chicago in 1912, he began in Warner Bros.' film library, ran its montage department and oversaw thousands of montages, including the opening of Casablanca. In 1945, two shorts he made, Star in the Night and Hitler Lives, received Academy Awards and helped him move into features. He made Riot in Cell Block 11 in 1954, a prison thriller shot at Folsom State Prison, which earned him a Directors Guild of America nomination. He directed Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1956, five Clint Eastwood movies including Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz, and John Wayne's last Western, The Shootist. His last film was Jinxed! (1982). He took small acting parts, among them a bartender in Play Misty for Me (1971) and a taxi driver in the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association honored him for lifetime achievement, as did the Telluride Film Festival.