Hill, George Roy

Hill, George Roy (1922-2002), American film, television, and theatre director, and actor. Born in Minneapolis, he studied music at Yale University with Paul Hindemith, before fighting in World War II as a navy pilot. After the war, he continued his studies in Ireland and made his debut stage appearance in The Devil’s Disciple, by George Bernard Shaw, at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; he directed his first production in Dublin in 1948. Returning to the United States he was beginning to make an impact on the stage when he was recalled for duty, spending a further 18 months in the forces during the Korean War.

On his return he began working on Broadway and, after success with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Look Homeward, Angel (1957, based on the novel by Thomas Wolfe), he directed a series of award-winning plays that included A Period of Adjustment by Tennessee Williams; in 1962 he made a film version, his first big-screen feature, starring Jane Fonda. The comedy, The World of Henry Orient (1964), which gave Peter Sellers one of his best roles, confirmed Hill as a major talent in Hollywood. In quick succession came the epic Hawaii (1966) and the spoof 1920s musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967, both starring Julie Andrews). He then became Hollywood’s hottest director with the critical and box-office success of two films that paired Paul Newman and Robert Redford: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), an exploration of Western myth, and The Sting (1973), for which he won Academy Awards (Oscars) for Best Director, and for Best Film.

Subsequent films, though interesting and intelligent, failed to make much commercial impact. These included Slaughterhouse Five (1972), an ambitious attempt to bring the complex novel by Kurt Vonnegut to the screen; Slap Shot (1977), an exploration of the murkier side of the sports world; The World According to Garp (1982), starring Robin Williams as a writer victimized by fate; and Funny Farm (1988), a spoof on escaping the horrors of city life. Hill’s interests were out of step with Hollywood’s priorities in the 1980s and 1990s and he spent much of that time teaching drama at Yale University.