George Roy Hill

George Roy Hill
Hill working on a script in 1978
Born	(1921-12-20)December 20, 1921 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	December 27, 2002(2002-12-27) (aged 81) New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University
Occupation(s)	Film and stage director, actor
Spouse	Louisa Horton ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1971)​
Children	4
Relatives	Tim Hill (nephew)

George Roy Hill (December 20, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Other Hill films include: Slaughterhouse-Five, The World According to Garp, The World of Henry Orient, Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Great Waldo Pepper, Slap Shot, Funny Farm, A Little Romance, and The Little Drummer Girl.

Early life and education

He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to George Roy and Helen Frances (née Owens) Hill, part of a well-to-do Roman Catholic family with interests in the newspaper business; the family owned the Minneapolis Tribune. Hill was no relation to George W. Hill, director and cinematographer of numerous silent movies and early sound films in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was educated at The Blake School, one of Minnesota's most prestigious private schools, and at Yale University, class of 1943.

He had a love of flying. After school he liked to visit the airport, and his hobby was to memorize the records of World War I flying aces. He idolized U.S. pilot Speed Holman, who, Hill once explained, "used to make his approach to the spectators at state fairs flying past the grandstand upside down."

Hill obtained his pilot’s licence at the age of sixteen. Airplanes featured prominently in his later films and are frequently crashed as well — in Slaughterhouse-Five, The World According to Garp and especially The Great Waldo Pepper which showed the influence on Hill of pilots like Speed Holman.

Hill loved classical music, especially Bach, and as an undergraduate at Yale University studied music under notable composer Paul Hindemith, graduating in 1943. His film The World of Henry Orient contains a humorous spoof-like tease of Hindemith during the piano concerto scene of Henry Orient (Peter Sellers). While at Yale, Hill was a member of the Scroll & Key Society and of The Spizzwinks(?) and The Whiffenpoofs, America's oldest collegiate, a cappella singing group.

Military service

During World War II, Hill served in the United States Marine Corps as a transport pilot with VMR-152 in the South Pacific. The outbreak of the Korean War resulted in his recall to active duty service for 18 months as a night fighter pilot, attaining the rank of Major. After the war, he was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point jet flight-training center in North Carolina.

Early Career

After being discharged, Hill worked as a newspaper reporter in Texas, then took advantage of the GI Bill to do graduate work at Trinity College, Dublin, studying James Joyce's use of music in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Some sources say he graduated in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in literature.

Other sources say his thesis was never completed because he became sidetracked by the Irish theater, making his stage debut as a walk-on part in 1947 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, with Cyril Cusack's company in a production of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. He had a leading role in Raven of Wicklow by Bridget G. MacCarthy in the same theater in February 1948.

Actor

On his return to the U.S., Hill studied theatre at HB Studio in New York City. He acted Off Broadway and toured with Margaret Webster's Shakespeare Repertory Company. He appeared on Broadway in Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, and August Strindberg's The Creditors (with Bea Arthur).

In 1952 he featured in a supporting role in the Hollywood movie Walk East on Beacon, but was then recalled to military service.

He appeared in episodes of Lux Video Theatre including "The Doctor's Wife", "Man at Bay" and "Masquerade". He also acted in episodes of Kraft Theatre such as "The Golden Slate".

Hill used his Korean War experience as the basis for a TV drama, "My Brother's Keeper", which appeared on Kraft Television Theater, with Hill himself in the cast. During his military service at Cherry Point, he had had to be 'talked down' by a ground controller at Atlanta airport, an incident that led to his writing the screenplay. The episode was performed and transmitted live in 1953.

Television and Theatre Director

After his demobilisation, he joined the company as a writer his scripts including "Keep Our Honor Bright".

He directed episodes of Ponds Theater ("Time of the Drought"), and Lux Video Theatre ("The Creaking Gate", "Not All Your Tears", "The Happy Man".)

Hill returned to Broadway in 1957 as director of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Look Homeward, Angel. This ran for 564 performances.

He directed episodes of The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, including "Eleven O'Clock Flight", "The Devil as a Roaring Lion", "Good Old Charlie Faye", "A Night to Remember", the story of the sinking of the Titanic. (a two parter, which Hill also wrote), plus "Man on the White Horse", "Carnival", and "A Real Fine Cutting Edge" with George Peppard. His work on Night earned him an Emmy for writing and directing.

He directed some famous episodes of Playhouse 90 including "The Helen Morgan Story" (1957), "The Last Clear Chance" (1958), "Child of Our Time" (1958), and "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1959).

Hill then focused on theatre, directing the Broadway productions of The Gang's All Here (1960) with Melvyn Douglas (132 performances), Greenwillow (1960) with Anthony Perkins (97 performances) and Period of Adjustment (1961) by Tennessee Williams, which ran for 132 performances.

Feature Film

Hill's first feature as director was the film version of Period of Adjustment (1962) starring Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton.

He followed this with an adaptationof Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1963).

The Peter Sellers movie The World of Henry Orient (1964) raised Hill's profile in Hollywood.

His blockbuster Hawaii (1966) was a setback. Reportedly, when budget estimates reached $14 million, the producers attempted to replace Hill with Arthur Hiller; but abandoned the idea after hundreds of native Polynesians in the cast went on strike, declaring: "We can and will perform only for our friend, Monsieur Hill."

Hill rebuilt his Hollywood reputation with the Julie Andrews musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) produced by Ross Hunter, which was a solid box office hit. He returned to Broadway to directed Henry, Sweet Henry (1967), a musical version of The World of Henry Orient, but it only lasted 80 shows.

Hill had a huge commercial success with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), based on a script by William Goldman and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Hill followed it with Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). He was reunited with Newman and Redford in The Sting (1973). The Sting won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The success of Butch Cassidy and The Sting meant that, for a time, Hill was the sole director in history to have made two of the top 10 moneymaking films.

Hill disliked tardiness on set. Paul Newman said of his time (as Cassidy) on Butch Cassidy: "If you weren’t on time, he’d take you up in his airplane. Scare the bejesus out of us."

Later Career

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) was based on a story by Hill written by William Goldman and starring Robert Redford. However it was a commercial disappointment.

More successful was Slap Shot (1977), a sports comedy with Paul Newman.

Hill followed it with A Little Romance (1979) and The World According to Garp (1982) with Robin Williams and Glenn Close.

He directed The Little Drummer Girl with Diane Keaton.

His last film was Funny Farm (1989) with Chevy Chase.

Academy Awards and nominations

• 1974 – Won – Best Director – The Sting
• 1970 – Nominated Best Director – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Filmography

Director

Year	Film	Oscar Nominations	Oscar Wins	BAFTA Nominations	BAFTA Wins	Golden Globe Nominations	Golden Globe Wins
1962	Period of Adjustment	1				2
1963	Toys in the Attic	1				2
1964	The World of Henry Orient					1
1966	Hawaii	7				3	2
1967	Thoroughly Modern Millie	7	1			5	1
1969	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	7	4	10	9	4	1
1972	Slaughterhouse-Five					1
1973	The Sting	10	7			1
1975	The Great Waldo Pepper
1977	Slap Shot
1979	A Little Romance	2	1			2
1982	The World According to Garp	2
1984	The Little Drummer Girl
1988	Funny Farm
	Total	37	13	10	9	21	4

Producer

• The Great Waldo Pepper (1975): producer
• The World According to Garp (1982): producer

Writer

• The Great Waldo Pepper (1975): Story
• A Little Romance (1979): Dialogue (uncredited)

Actor

• Walk East on Beacon! (1952): Nicholas Wilben
• The World According to Garp (1982): Pilot (uncredited)

Personal life and death

In the Margaret Webster theatre company, Hill met Louisa Horton, whom he married on April 7, 1951. They later divorced. Hill was survived by Horton, their two sons, including George Roy Hill III and John Hill, two daughters, and 12 grandchildren.

After his second return to civilian life, Hill bought an open-cockpit Waco biplane built in 1930, which he retained until about ten years before his death.

Hill died on December 27, 2002, at his home in New York City from complications of Parkinson's disease, one week after his 81st birthday.

External links

• George Roy Hill at IMDb 
• George Roy Hill at AllMovie
• George Roy Hill at the TCM Movie Database
• George Roy Hill at the Internet Broadway Database
• George Roy Hill discography at Discogs
• George Roy Hill at Find a Grave
• The George Roy Hill Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.