Allan Dwan Allan Dwan Allan Dwan April December was a pioneering Canadian born American motion picture director producer and screenwriter.
Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto Ontario Canada his family moved to the United States when he was eleven years of age At university he trained as an engineer and began working for a lighting company in Chicago Illinois However he had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry and when Essanay Studios offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter he took the job At that time some of the East Coast movie makers began to spend winters in California where the climate allowed them to continue productions requiring warm weather Soon a number of movie companies worked there year round and in Dwan began working part time in Hollywood While still in New York in he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture Directors Association.
Allan Dwan became a true innovator in the motion picture industry After making a series of westerns and comedies he directed fellow Canadian Mary Pickford in several very successful movies as well as her husband Douglas Fairbanks notably in the acclaimed Robin Hood.
Following the introduction of the talkies in he directed child star Shirley Temple in Heidi and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm the following year.
Over his long and successful career spanning over fifty years he directed over motion pictures many of them highly acclaimed such as the box office smash The Sands of Iwo Jima His last movie was in.
Dwan is one of the directors who spanned the silent to sound era Most of the silent movies he directed are lost due to poor preservation Little historical writing has been devoted to Dwan but some believe that he will be the last discovered great director from the Classic Hollywood Era.
He died in Los Angeles at the age of ninety six and is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery Mission Hills California.
Allan Dwan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Selected films
As director. Manhattan Madness. Fairbanks Fine Arts. Fairbanks Fragments also screenwriter. Robin Hood. The Iron Mask. Heidi. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm The Little Colonel. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. The Three Musketeers. The Gorilla. Young People. Look Who's Laughing also producer. Friendly Enemies. Around the World also producer
 Up in Mabel's Room. Abroad With Two Yanks. Getting Gertie's Garter also screenwriter. Brewster's Millions. Driftwood. Calendar Girl. Northwest Outpost also associate producer. Sands of Iwo Jima. Montana Belle. Silver Lode. Passion. Cattle Queen of Montana. Tennessee's Partner. Pearl of the South Pacific. Escape to Burma. Slightly Scarlet. The Restless Breed. Enchanted Island.
See also Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood