Here is the biography of Irving Rapper:
Irving Rapper was a renowned film director, born on January 16, 1898, in London. He emigrated to the United States and began his career as an actor and stage director on Broadway while studying at New York University. In the mid-1930s, he moved to Hollywood and worked as an assistant director and dialog coach at Warner Bros.
Rapper's big break came when he was promoted to director in 1941, after years of working as a dialog director. He initially worked with German émigré William Dieterle on films such as "The Story of Louis Pasteur" (1936),"The Life of Emile Zola" (1937),and "Juarez" (1939). He then worked with Hungarian émigré Michael Curtiz on "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" (1939) and French-born Anatole Litvak on several films.
Rapper's most notable collaborations were with actress Bette Davis, with whom he worked on several films, including "Now, Voyager" (1942),"The Corn Is Green" (1945),and "Deception" (1946). He also directed the first film adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, "The Glass Menagerie" (1950),starring Gertrude Lawrence and Kirk Douglas.
Rapper's career suffered in the 1960s, but he continued to direct until the end of the 1970s. His later films included "The Brave One" (1956),"Marjorie Morningstar" (1958),and "Born Again" (1978). He passed away on December 20, 1999, at the age of 101, just shy of his 102nd birthday.
