Tay Garnett

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I met Tay Garnett in 1974 in Hollywood through Eve Brent. He was a great person and had no representation in the industry.  I was working for the Foxx Talent Agency in Beverly Hills at the time, so I signed him with the agency.

 I presented the Merv Griffin people with a concept that would pay tribute to Tay.  They liked the idea and we did the show. I coordinated the guests for Tay, who gave me the names of actors he had worked with, and I contacted them to appear on the show. Walter Pidgeon, Eve Arden, Lloyd Nolan and George Murphy came tp the show and payed their tributes to Tay Garnett.

Tay was a most interesting and likable person. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend time with him. He also wrote a book titled Light Your Torches And Pull Up Your Tights.

Movies Directed By Tay Garnett

Challenge to Be Free  (1976)
The Timber Tramps  (1975)
The Delta Factor  (1970)
Cattle King  (1963)
Night Fighters  (1960)
The Black Knight  (1954)
Main Street to Broadway  (1953)
One Minute to Zero  (1952)
Cause for Alarm  (1951)
Soldiers Three  (1951)
The Fireball  (1950)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court  (1949)
Wild Harvest  (1947)
The Postman Always Rings Twice  (1946)
The Valley of Decision  (1945)
Mrs. Parkington  (1944)
The Cross of Lorraine  (1944)
Bataan  (1943)
My Favorite Spy  (1942)
Cheers for Miss Bishop  (1941)
Seven Sinners  (1940)
Eternally Yours  (1939)
Slightly Honorable  (1939)
Joy of Living  (1938)
Trade Winds  (1938)
Stand-In  (1937)
Slave Ship  (1937)
Love Is News  (1937)
Professional Soldier  (1936)
China Seas  (1935)
One Way Passage  (1932)
Prestige  (1932)
Bad Company  (1931)
Officer O'Brien  (1930)
The Flying Fool  (1929)
The Big Push

William Taylor Garnett
Mini biography

Following his service as a naval aviator in WW I, Tay Garnett entered films in 1920 as a screenwriter. After a stint as a gag writer for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, Garnett joined Pathe, and in 1928 began directing for that company. Garnett garnered some attention in the early '30s with such films as "One Way Passage" and "Her Man, " and his best work came in the mid-'30s with such films as "China Seas", "Slave Ship" and "Seven Sinners." His best known film is probably the John Garfield/Lana Turner "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in 1946, although his 1949 version of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" was a well-deserved critical and commercial success. Garnett journeyed to England in the early '50s for a few films, but upon his return made only a few films before switching to television. He resurfaced in the early '70s to shoot a pair of outdoor epics in Alaska, then retired.