Hawks, Howard

Hawks, Howard (1896-1977), American film director, writer, and producer, born in Goshen, Indiana. He earned an engineering degree from Cornell University and was a pilot and aircraft designer before settling in Hollywood in 1922 as an independent film-maker. He worked on various short films before directing his first studio film, The Road to Glory, in 1926. Subsequent early films include The Dawn Patrol (1930), Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), and Bringing Up Baby (1938). He introduced the team of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). John Wayne's western persona appears in Hawks's Red River (1948), Rio Bravo (1959), and Rio Lobo (1970). In 1974 Hawks was given an honorary Academy Award; his films were cited as a major contribution to world cinema.