>
Irving Rapper
Like his contemporary George Cukor, Irving Rapper gained a reputation as a director of "women's pictures," undoubtedly resulting from what has been acknowledged as his masterpiece, the Bette Davis weepie "Now, Voyager" (1942). Yet over the course of his career, he was also responsible for eliciting fine performances from male performers like Fredric March, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Arthur Kennedy. Rapper flourished in the studio system as his later films attest. With the exception of "The Brave One" (1956), the majority of his later efforts pale next to his Warner Bros. output.