Joseph Pevney

Joseph Pevney (September 15, 1911 – May 18, 2008) was an American film and television director.

Biography

The son of a Jewish watchmaker, Pevney made his debut in vaudeville as a boy soprano in 1924. Although he hated vaudeville, he loved the theatre and developed a career as a stage actor, appearing in such plays as Home of the Brave, The World We Make, Key Largo, Golden Boy and Nature Son. A short career as a film actor followed, his most notable appearance being in the classic 1947 boxing film Body and Soul, in which he played the role of Shorty Pulaski. Before turning to film, he served in the Signal Corps in World War II, then did more time on stage. He would also marry three times, with his last wife surviving him.

Subsequently Pevney became a prolific film and television director, with a directing career that spanned over 80 productions from 1950 to 1984. Among those were films including Female on the Beach (1955) with Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler, Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) with Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen, the James Cagney vehicle Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), The Crowded Sky (1960), and Westerns such as The Plunderers (1960).