Birthday:
09-20-1898
Deathday:
01-27-1964 (65 years)
Birthplace:
Grayling, Michigan, USA
Biography
Norman Zenos McLeod (September 20, 1898, Grayling, Michigan – January 27, 1964, Hollywood, California) was an American film director, cartoonist and writer. He is considered one of the best directors of comedy films of all time.
McLeod made several successful and influential movies such as Taking A Chance (1928), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Other memorable films directed by McLeod includes It's a Gift (1934) with W.C. Fields, and the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).
His nickname, as recorded on a publicity still on the set of Monkey Business, was "Macko."
Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Z. McLeod, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
McLeod made several successful and influential movies such as Taking A Chance (1928), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Other memorable films directed by McLeod includes It's a Gift (1934) with W.C. Fields, and the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).
His nickname, as recorded on a publicity still on the set of Monkey Business, was "Macko."
Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Z. McLeod, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read morearrow_drop_down
Their works
- Release swap_vert
- Title swap_vert
- Ratings swap_vert
close
You Can't Fool a Camera
Act like Himself (as Norman McLeod)
event1941 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
This short starts out as a documentary. In a dramatization, Eadward Muybridge's photographic experiments prove that when a horse gallops, there are times when all four of the animal's feet are off the ground. We are then brought to the present, where MGM directors and their cinematographers are shown working on current productions. The film closes with closeups of the studio's major stars and a tribute to the studio's actors who have joined the armed forces.
Grandpa's Girl
Title Illustration
event1924 star_border 5
top_panel_open
A 1924 Jack Duffy comedy. Jean manages to be expelled from college to be able to go to Europe with her grandfather. When he learns about that, grandpa disinherits Jean and starts looking for a grandson to replace her. Jean dresses as a boy, Oswald. Grandpa then tries to marry Oswald and test his new grandson’s strength.
Fool Proof
Title Illustration
event1923
top_panel_open
A 1924 Neal Burns comedy. To show his son that there’s more to life than work, a rich man pretends he is getting married to a chorus girl.
A Perfect 36
Title Illustration
event1923 star_border 5
top_panel_open
In order to escape from the police after a small car accident, Bobby dresses as a girl and a sailor in a boat ride.
Topper
Director
event1937 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
Alice in Wonderland
Director
event1933 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland, populated by even more fantastic characters.
Road to Rio
Director
event1947 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
Scat Sweeney and Hot Lips Barton, two out of work musicians, stow away onboard a ship bound for Rio, after accidentally setting fire to the big top of a circus. They then get mixed up with a potential suicide Lucia, who first thanks them, then unexpectedly turns them over to the ship's captain. When they find out that she has been hypnotized, to go through a marriage of convenience, when the ship reaches Rio, the boys turn up at the ceremony, in order to stop the wedding, and to help catch the crooks.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Director
event1947 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.
It's a Gift
Director
event1934 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.
Horse Feathers
Director
event1932 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.
Monkey Business
Director
event1931 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.
Lady Be Good
Director
event1941 star_border 5.4
top_panel_open
Married songwriters almost split up while putting on a big show.
Alias Jesse James
Director
event1959 star_border 5.9
top_panel_open
Insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth sells a man a life policy only to discover that the man in question is the outlaw Jesse James. Milford is sent to buy back the policy, but is robbed by Jesse. And when Jesse learns that Milford's boss is on the way out with more cash, he plans to rob him too and have Milford get killed in the robbery while dressed as Jesse, and collect on the policy.
Getting Gertie's Goat
Title Illustration
event1924 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Gertie and Jimmie want to get married and go on a honeymoon. They have the license and the tickets, but have to get past her strict father.
The Paleface
Director
event1948 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
Bob Hope stars in this laugh-packed wild west spoof co-starring Jane Russell as a sexy Calamity Jane, Hope is a meek frontier dentist, "Painless" Peter Potter, who finds himself gunslinging alongside the fearless Calamity as she fights off outlaws and Indians.
The Air Circus
Scenario Writer
event1928
top_panel_open
Two eager young pilots at flight school compete over their flight instructor's aviatrix sister.
Topper Takes a Trip
Director
event1938 star_border 6.4
top_panel_open
Mrs. Topper's friend Mrs. Parkhurst has convinced Mrs Topper to file for a divorce from Cosmo due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs. Parkhurst takes Mrs. Topper on a trip to France where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce. With help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.
There Goes My Heart
Director
event1938 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk.
A Lady's Profession
Director
event1933
top_panel_open
A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse.
Casanova's Big Night
Director
event1954 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
Italy 1757, Pippo Popolino, a lowly tailor, disguises himself as the great Casanova in order to romance the attractive widow Francesca. He little suspects what awaits him... Locked into the incongruous role by the desperation of the real Casanova's creditors, Pippo must journey to Venice on a delicate mission far beyond his capabilities.
Panama Hattie
Director
event1942 star_border 4
top_panel_open
Sailors and spies mingle in between the acts at Hattie's nightclub in the Canal Zone.
Swing Shift Maisie
Director
event1943 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Street-smart Maisie from Brooklyn lands a job at an airplane assembly plant during WWII and falls in love with handsome pilot "Breezy" McLaughlin. Breezy, however, falling in love with and getting engaged to Maisie's conniving roommate Iris, doesn't realize she's using him and it's up to Maisie to convince him.
Jackass Mail
Director
event1942 star_border 7
top_panel_open
An unknowing orphan idolizes the horse thief/mail robber who has shot his father.
If I Had a Million
Director
event1932 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.
My Favorite Spy
Director
event1951 star_border 6
top_panel_open
A burlesque comic doubles for a spy in Tangier and meets the spy's girlfriend, who is also a spy.
Never Wave at a WAC
Director
event1953 star_border 4.9
top_panel_open
A divorced socialite decides to join the Army because she hopes it will enable her to see more of her boyfriend, a Colonel. She soon encounters many difficulties with the Army lifestyle. Moreover, her ex-husband is working as a consultant with the Army, and he uses his position to disrupt her romantic plans by making her join a group of WACs who are testing new equipment.
The Kid from Brooklyn
Director
event1946 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
Shy milkman Burleigh Sullivan accidentally knocks out drunken Speed McFarlane, a champion boxer who was flirting with Burleigh's sister. The newspapers get hold of the story and photographers even catch Burleigh knock out Speed again. Speed's crooked manager decides to turn Burleigh into a fighter. Burleigh doesn't realize that all of his opponents have been asked to take a dive. Thinking he really is a great fighter, Burleigh develops a swelled head which puts a crimp in his relationship with pretty nightclub singer Polly Pringle. He may finally get his comeuppance when he challenges Speed for the title.
Let's Dance
Director
event1950 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
Years after the death of her husband, Kitty McNeil takes her son and flees from the home of her wealthy and controlling mother-in-law. Alone and jobless in New York, she runs into an old flame, her USO partner Donald Elwood, who agrees to help her fight for custody of the child.
Merrily We Live
Director
event1938 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Pennies from Heaven
Director
event1936 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Larry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promises an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help. This delays Larry from following his dream and going to Venice and becoming a gondolier. Instead, he becomes a street singer and, while singing in the street, meets a pretty welfare worker, Susan Sprague. She takes a dim view of Patsy's welfare under the guardianship of Larry and her grandfather and starts proceedings to have Patsy placed in an orphanage.
Coronado
Director
event1935 star_border 3
top_panel_open
Southern California's Hotel Coronado caters to and is frequented by members of the social upper-crust. Although she lives on the wrong side of the San Diego track, in a tent-city with her father. Otto, and ditzy sister, Violet, June Wray is a singer with the Eddy Duchin Orchestra appearing to the hotel. Johnny Marvin, an aspiring songwriter and the son of a wealthy automobile manufacturer, is staying at the hotel and, from they moment June and Johnny meet, they fall instantly in love. Trouble arises when Johnny's father objects to the romance, and complications and help arrive in the form of two Marine-hating sailors,Chuck Hornbostel and "Pinky" Falls, when Chuck marries June's ditzy sister.
The Powers Girl
Director
event1943 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Two small-town sisters who've come to New York City for very different reasons find themselves competing for the affections of a brash magazine photographer. Comedy.
Mind Your Own Business
Director
event1936
top_panel_open
Nature reporter Orville Shanks retreats to the woods for material for his "Our Wild Friends" column and to volunteer for his favorite cause, the Boy Scouts. When Orville's editor, Crane, orders him to spice up his column, Orville's wife Melba writes a gossip column using animals as metaphors for people. Crane loves Melba's article and gives Orville a raise, and the column becomes a hit.
Isn't It Romantic?
Director
event1948 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Three sisters find romance in post-Civil War Indiana.
Early to Bed
Director
event1936 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Chester Beatty and Tessie Weeks have been engaged for 5 years and going together for 15 years before that. Chester is reluctant to burden Tessie with marriage because of his secret problem. He is a sleepwalker. When Tessie finally does rope Chester into marriage, he can't get time off from his boss of 26 years, Mr. Frisbee. To resolve the problem, Chester sets out to impress his boss by securing a big sales contract of glass eyes. He takes Tessie and follows the rich doll company owner Horace B. Stanton to a lakeside resort and befriends him. However, his sleep-walking makes him a prime suspect in a thievery/murder case.
Remember?
Director
event1939 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
Sky and Linda meet on vacation and become engaged. When Sky introduces Linda to his best friend, Jeff, Linda and Jeff fall in love and marry. But Jeff's work puts a strain on the marriage and a divorce is planned. Sky uses an experimental memory loss drug to make Linda and Jeff forget their rough times (and the fact that they were married) and they fall in love all over again.
Here Comes Cookie
Director
event1935 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
A scatterbrained heiress opens her home to a succession of unemployed actors and vaudeville performers, then decides to produce her own show, much to the consternation of her father, her sister and her sister's boyfriend, who is actually after the young girl's money.
Finn and Hattie
Director
event1931 star_border 5.3
top_panel_open
The Haddocks are going on a European vacation and from their reception at the station, where the whole town goes to see them off, it is clear who wears the pants in the family - it's their daughter Mildred. Her parents often proclaim she is a genius - but she is just smarter than them, which wouldn't be too hard! On the train, Finn meets shyster Harry who sizes Finn up as a sucker and quickly wires his partner Bessie, aka "The Princess" to make Finn's acquaintance and take him for everything he has.
The Miracle Man
Director
event1932 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.
Mama Loves Papa
Director
event1933
top_panel_open
A woman's ceaseless badgering sends her husband on a drinking bender. Along the way, he makes a new female acquaintance.
Public Pigeon No. 1
Director
event1957 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Swindlers con a lunchroom clerk into doing them a favor, supposedly on behalf of the FBI.
Long Hose
Animation
event1928
top_panel_open
Jack Duffy had two skills that helped make him the lead in a nice series of short comedies in the 1920s: the usual ability to take one of the bone-breaking falls that slapstick called for and the ability to make himself up as an old coot, which gave him a nice character and made the pratfalls more impressive. In this one he manages to get himself tangled up coming down the pole at the fire station -- very amusing.
Little Men
Director
event1940 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys. When Dan, a tough street kid, comes to the school, he wins Jo's heart despite his hard edge, and she defends him when he is falsely accused. Dan's foster father, Major Burdle, is a swindler in cahoots with another crook called Willie the Fox. When the Plumfield School becomes in danger of foreclosure, the two con men cook up a scheme to save the home.
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Director
event1941 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Mary Dugan is a young woman accused of murdering her billionaire lover. In the process, his defense lawyer acts wrongly against them, and is replaced by a young lawyer, the brother of the accused
Wings
Assistant Director
event1927 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.
Redheads on Parade
Director
event1935
top_panel_open
A film star finds herself in trouble with her co-star when she has to flirt with the backer to prevent him from withdrawing his support.
Melody in Spring
Director
event1934 star_border 6
top_panel_open
It's love at first sight for singer John Craddock and Jane Blodgett who meet while John is seeking a radio job with the "Blodgett Dog Biscuit Hour," and John learns that the sponsor is Jane's father, Warren Blodgett, an avid souvenir and antiques collector. John gets himself in bad with Blodgett when he accidentally ruins a deal in which Blodgett was attempting to acquire a bedpost for his collection. To break up the romance, Blodgett and his wife take Jane to Switzerland, where Blodgett has his heart set on obtaining a jealously-guarded cowbell.
Many Happy Returns
Director
event1934 star_border 5.3
top_panel_open
Gracie Allen assumes the "management" of the shop owned by her papa Horatio Allen, turning it into a radio station and then an aviary---with the usual Gracie Allen logic---while distracted Papa is trying to get younger daughter, beauty contest winner Florence, married before she can head to Hollywood and get into the movies.
The Play Girl
Title Designer
event1928
top_panel_open
When Madge, a clerk in a flower shop, is sent to a bachelor's apartment to deliver and arrange a bouquet, she discovers a guest, young and handsome Bradley Lane, taking a bath. She loses her job and becomes a playgirl until Bradley, her true love, asks her to marry him.
Along Came Youth
Director
event1930 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Broke and stranded in England, American sportsman Larry Brooks and his pal Ambrose take increasingly odd jobs to remain in proximity to the aristocratic lady that Larry would woo.
Touchdown!
Director
event1931
top_panel_open
Football coach Dan Curtis is eager for his small college team to win at all costs.
Skippy
Writer
event1931 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Skippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.
Sooky
Writer
event1931 star_border 1
top_panel_open
Skippy, son of Dr. Herbert and Mrs. Skinner, adamantly stands by his poor friend, Sooky Wayne, who lives in Shantytown with his sickly mother. The Boone Boys, a boys' club that costs thirty dollars to join and has uniforms that Sooky admires, refuses to admit him because he is poor. Sooky and Skippy form their own club called the Beagle Boys.
Life of Vernon Hathaway
Director
event1955
top_panel_open
A daydreaming man discovers that his imagined adventures are happening in real life.
The Twilight Zone
Director (1 ep.)
event1959 star_border 8.4
top_panel_open
A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
The Gale Storm Show
Director (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
The Gale Storm Show is an American sitcom starring Gale Storm. The series premiered on September 29, 1956, and ran until 1960 for 143 half-hour black-and-white episodes, initially on CBS and in its last year on ABC. The Gale Storm Show was co-produced by Independent Television Corporation and Hal Roach Studios.
The series was aired under the title Oh, Susanna in syndication.
Screen Director's Playhouse
Director (1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Presented by Eastman Kodak, this show was a series of original scripts directed by acclaimed directors and featuring well-known performers. The stories ranged from musicals to comedies and dramas.
Show more expand_more
keyboard_double_arrow_down