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Howard Hawks directed eleven National Film Registry selections including Scarface 1932 and Rio Bravo 1959, yet received only one competitive Oscar nomination. He worked across genres—screwball comedy, western, film noir—and boosted the careers of John Wayne and Lauren Bacall. Cahiers du Cinéma critics elevated him to auteur status in the 1950s, citing his focus on professionalism, male bonding, and strong-willed women.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Howard Hawks — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Howard Hawks by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Howard Hawks — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
The paper-industry fortune of his grandfather C.W. Howard gave young Howard Hawks race cars and flying lessons. He was born in Goshen, Indiana on May 30, 1896, and the family moved to Neenah, Wisconsin in 1898, then to Pasadena, California in 1906. Hawks attended Phillips Exeter Academy and studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University. Those early thrills of speed and risk infused his later films.
Hawks started as a prop boy on A Little Princess 1917 and rose through Famous Players-Lasky. He directed his first feature, The Road to Glory 1926, and scored a hit with The Dawn Patrol 1930. Scarface 1932, a thinly veiled Al Capone biography produced by Howard Hughes, was his breakthrough. In the 1930s and 1940s he directed Bringing Up Baby 1938, Only Angels Have Wings 1939, His Girl Friday 1940, Sergeant York 1941, To Have and Have Not 1944, and The Big Sleep 1946. With To Have and Have Not he launched Lauren Bacall’s career; with Red River 1948 he turned John Wayne into a superstar. Hawks overlapped dialogue and encouraged improvisation, trademarks that influenced Robert Altman.
Hawks married Athole Shearer, sister of Norma Shearer, in 1928; they divorced in 1940. He married Mary Raye Nancy Gross in 1941 divorced 1949 and Dee Hartford in 1953 divorced 1960. He had four children: Kitty, David, Barbara, and Gregg, and adopted a son, Peter. His womanizing earned him the nickname The Silver Fox from John Ford. He remained apolitical despite working with John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart. The 1930 plane crash death of his brother Kenneth affected him for years.
John Wayne presented Hawks with an Honorary Academy Award in 1974. French New Wave filmmakers François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jacques Rivette championed him as an auteur. Eleven of his films are in the National Film Registry; Quentin Tarantino named Rio Bravo 1959 his favorite movie. His influence appears in the work of Peter Bogdanovich, Brian De Palma, John Carpenter, and Walter Hill. Hawks’s storytelling seemed effortless; he made any genre his own and created enduring American films.
Browse the complete filmography of Howard Hawks — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Howard Hawks — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Howard Hawks's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Howard Hawks — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
There’s Action Only If There’s Danger.
A Good Movie Is Three Good Scenes and No Bad Scenes.
I’m a Storyteller That’s the Chief Function of a Director. and They’re Moving Pictures, Let’s Make ‘Em Move!
When You Find Out a Thing That Goes Pretty Well, You Might as Well Do It Again.
Cary Grant Was so Far the Best That There Isn’t Anybody to Be Compared to Him.
John Wayne Represents More Force, More Power, Than Anybody Else on the Screen
I Never Made a Message Picture, and I Hope I Never Do.
I Don’t Think Plot as a Plot Means Much Today. I’d Say That Everybody Has Seen Every Plot 20 Times. What They Haven’t Seen Is Characters and Their Relation to One Another. I Don’t Worry Much About Plot Anymore.
Frank Capra, Until He Went into the Army, Was One of the Greatest Directors We Ever Had. Made Great Entertainment. After That He Couldn’t Make Anything. He Started to Analyze His Pictures, and Put Messages in Them. He Put Messages into His Other Pictures, but He Didn’t Think About It. He Did It Naturally. When He Got to Thinking About His Messages, Oh Brother, He Turned into Really . . . Ah, No Good.
But Politics Has Gotten to Where They Want to Control and Tell You What Kind of Movies, What Kind of Books, What Kind of Everything. Who the Hell Is Qualified to Do It? I Don’t Know How Through Movies You’re Ever Gonna Get to Tell People How This Corruption Works in the Country. Because the Whole Media Is Just Quoting All These People. It’s a Story for Them. You Know, I Write a Story and Then Somebody Comes Along and They Say, You’re Changing That. Well, I Wrote the Goddamned Thing. I Know, but What Are You Changing It For? It’s Printed on There. Why Not Keep It . . . You Know, They Read Stuff in the Newspapers, They See Stuff on Television. I Don’t Know What You’re Gonna Do, but You’re Not Gonna Be Able to Do It Through Movies, I Don’t Think.
If You Want to Make Pictures and Enjoy Making Them, You Better Go Out and Make Something That a Lot of People Want to See. and Then They’ll Turn You Lose and Let You Make What You Want. and Then Maybe You Can Do Some of the Things That You Want to Do. but as a Beginner, You Haven’t Got a Chance.
I Guarantee You That Two Directors That Are Any Good Can Take the Same Story, Change the Name of the Characters, Change the Name of the Town and Make an Entirely Different Picture.
For Me the Best Drama Is One That Deals with a Man in Danger.
Little-known facts about Howard Hawks — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Hawks claimed he was supposed to direct Casablanca 1942 and Michael Curtiz was meant to direct Sergeant York 1941; they switched films after lunch.
John Wayne delivered the eulogy at Hawks’s funeral.
He never got over the plane-crash death of his brother Kenneth Hawks, who he believed might have been an even greater filmmaker.
Hawks remained apolitical throughout his life despite working with politically outspoken actors John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart.
His friend John Ford called him The Grey Fox of Hollywood for his womanizing ways.
His wife Slim saw Lauren Bacall on a magazine cover and persuaded Hawks to cast her; Bacall was only 20 in To Have and Have Not 1944.
Hawks directed five actors who received Oscar nominations: Walter Brennan, Gary Cooper, Margaret Wycherly, Barbara Stanwyck, and Arthur Hunnicutt; Cooper and Brennan won.
Despite his prolific output, Hawks was nominated for only one competitive Academy Award, for Sergeant York 1941.
He considered Frances Farmer the best actress he worked with, directing her in Come and Get It 1936.
Hawks worked in a wide range of genres: westerns, screwball comedies, film noirs, action/adventures, period epics, war dramas, racing films, science-fiction, and gangster pictures.
Lauren Bacall’s screen persona in To Have and Have Not was based on Hawks’s wife Slim, including the nickname Slim used in the film.
Hawks was presented with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement by John Wayne at the 1974 ceremony.
His wife Slim used set plans from Bringing Up Baby 1938 to build their New England-style home.
Hawks was the uncredited ghost director on The Thing from Another World 1951, though cast members Kenneth Tobey and James Arness insisted Christian Nyby directed it alone.
He died the day after Charles Chaplin, on December 26, 1977.
Served in the US Army Signal Corps during World War I.
Quentin Tarantino said Rio Bravo 1959 may be his favorite movie of all time.
Ashes scattered in the desert near Calimesa, California.
Frequently worked with William Faulkner, who wrote or co-wrote many Hawks films.
Brother-in-law of Mary Astor, cousin of Carole Lombard.
Attended Throop Polytechnic Institute later Caltech and Phillips Exeter Academy before studying engineering at Cornell.
Eleven of his films have been selected for the National Film Registry including Scarface 1932 and Rio Bravo 1959.
In 1996, Entertainment Weekly voted him the fourth greatest director of all time.
Brian De Palma dedicated his 1983 remake of Scarface to Hawks.
Hawks was a cousin-in-law of Clark Gable and brother-in-law of Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer.
His uncredited voice is heard during the opening credits of Monkey Business 1952 saying Not yet, Cary.
Three of his films made the AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list: Bringing Up Baby at #14, His Girl Friday at #19, Ball of Fire at #92.
A distant cousin, Elizabeth Ellen Robinson, was the mother of Mary Gish and grandmother of Lillian and Dorothy Gish.
Hawks was an infamous teller of tall tales, usually exaggerating his involvement in films or sounding like a tough guy.
Interviewed in Peter Bogdanovich’s book Who the Devil Made It.
In a 1972 interview, he named John Ford, Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, and George Stevens as the best American directors of his generation.
His first film job was as a prop boy on A Little Princess 1917, where he may have directed some scenes uncredited.
As of the fifth edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 11 of Hawks’s films are included, second only to Alfred Hitchcock.
He was initially going to direct Gunga Din 1939 but was replaced after Bringing Up Baby flopped; George Stevens took over.
Quentin Tarantino has named Hawks his favorite director and called him the greatest storyteller in the history of cinema.
Portrayed by James Cahill in Will There Really Be a Morning? 1983.
Educated at Pasadena High School, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Cornell University, obtaining a degree in Engineering.
Had two sons and two daughters: David, Gregg, Barbara, and Kitty.
Worked as a designer in a plane factory from 1919 to 1922.
Brother of William B. Hawks, brother-in-law of Bessie Love.
Portrayed by Ross Elliott in Bogie 1980, by Howard Platt in Norma Jean & Marilyn 1996, and by Adam Roarke in Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell 1977.
Awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1974 for a Master American Film Maker whose creative effort holds a distinguished place in World Cinema.
Brother-in-law of Eden Hartford.
Served in the American Army Air Corps from 1917 to 1919.
Father-in-law of Ned Tanen, who married daughter Kitty; they divorced in 1983.
Was asked to direct The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 but declined due to the box-office failure of Land of the Pharaohs 1955.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Howard Hawks.
Celebrities similar to Howard Hawks — same craft, ranked by reach.
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