Vidor, King Wallis

Born Feb. 8, 1894, in Galveston, Texas. American film director and producer.

Vidor studied at the Peacock Military Academy in Texas, and in 1913 he began his work in the field of motion pictures. He directed films that made an important contribution to the realistic trend in American cinematic art. These include The Big Parade (1925), The Crowd (1928), Our Daily Bread (1934), and The Citadel (1938, based on A. J. Cronin’s work of that name). These films were devoted to socially significant problems—the condemnation of imperialistic war, unemployment in the USA, and the fate of science in a capitalist society. Vidor was the director of the motion picture War and Peace (1956, based on L. N. Tolstoy’s novel), which he produced together with Italian filmmakers.