Frank Tuttle

Former publicist who began his film career as a continuity writer for Paramount and began directing in the early 1920s, with occasional story and screenplay credits as well. A competent second-string talent long at Paramount from the mid-20s through the early 40s, Tuttle specialized in snappy comedies such as the Clara Bow vehicle "Kid Boots" (1927), the delightful semi-musical "This Is the Night" (1932), which was Cary Grant's feature debut, and "Lucky Jordan" (1942), a lighthearted WWII spy adventure with Alan Ladd. Perhaps his most notable sound film, "This Gun For Hire (1943), owes much of its success to Graham Greene's story, a terse screenplay and the interaction of Ladd's unexpressive mug and Veronica Lake's "peekaboo" hairdo.