From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia He was born as Hugh Ryan Conway on July 17 1887 in Graceville Minnesota US Conway started out as an actor joining a repertory theater group straight out of high school He then moved into films and in 1911 became a member of DW Griffiths stock company appearing primarily in westerns Four years later he made his mark as a director and gained valuable experience at Universal 191617 and 192123 before moving on to MGM in 1925 He remained there until 1948 often helming prestige assignments featuring the studios top male star Clark Gable Boom Town 1940 Honky Tonk 1941 The Hucksters 1947 all solid box office hits Conway was one of a team of MGM contract directors who forsook any pretense to a specific individual style in favor of working within the strictures set forth by studio management A thoroughly competent craftsman he delivered commercially successful entertainments on time and within budget Conway may not have achieved fame as a creative genius but the majority of his films remain eminently entertaining to this day In his most famous film A Tale of Two Cities 1935 he utilized 17000 extras for the Paris mob scenes alone This spectacular adaptation of the Dickens classic is still regarded by many as the definitive screen version Another popular hit was the sophisticated allstar comedy Libeled Lady 1936 with the New York Times reviewer commenting on Conways agile direction Conway also directed Viva Villa a hit MGM film starring Wallace Beery that was nominated for four Academy Awards Description above from the Wikipedia article Jack Conway filmmaker licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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