Although former cartoonist Gregory La Cava's comedies earned him a notable reputation behind the camera, he also crafted remarkable dramas like Gabriel Over the White House (1933) and The Affairs of Cellini (1934), both testaments to the director's largely underappreciated diversity. La Cava was born in Towanda, PA, in 1892, and his early work with Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz on The Katzenjammer Kids and Mutt and Jeff caught the attention of the Hearst Corp. Subsequently hired as the editor-in-chief for the company's International Comic Films division, La Cava served as the producer/director of such animated shorts as 20,000 Legs Under the Sea (1917) and How Could William Tell? (1919). After making more than 100 successful animated shorts, La Cava graduated to live-action films with a series of successful comedy shorts. A few short years later, he was directing such luminaries as Doris Kenyon, Richard Dix, and W.C. Fields in feature films. He put his name on the map with Womanhandled (1925), So's Your Old Man (1926), and Feel My Pulse (1928), and the advent of sound found La Cava segueing to drama with The Age of Consent (1932) and Private Worlds (1935). The director never truly abandoned the genre on which his career was founded, and, in 1936, he paired William Powell and Carole Lombard for the enduring 1936 comedy My Man Godfrey (the first film to receive four acting nominations at the Academy Awards). Quickly following with the memorable drama Stage Door 1937, La Cava was at the peak of his career when he received Best Director nominations from the Academy for both features. By this point, he had earned something of reputation as an actor's director, and though he continued working behind the camera throughout the '40s, his output ceased following uncredited work on 1948's One Touch of Venus. La Cava died of a heart attack four years later in Malibu, CA.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Living in a Big Way
Director, Screen Story, Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
|
Lady in a Jam
Director, Producer |
1942 | |||
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Unfinished Business
Director, Producer |
1941 | |||
|
Primrose Path
Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
1940 | |||
|
Fifth Avenue Girl
Director, Producer |
1939 | |||
|
Stage Door
Director, Screenwriter |
1937 | |||
|
My Man Godfrey
Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
1936 | |||
|
Private Worlds
Director, Screenwriter |
1935 | |||
|
She Married Her Boss
Director |
1935 | |||
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Gallant Lady
Director |
1934 | |||
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The Affairs of Cellini
Director |
1934 | |||
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What Every Woman Knows
Director |
1934 | |||
|
Bed of Roses
Director, Screenwriter |
1933 | |||
|
Gabriel Over the White House
Director |
1933 | |||
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Symphony of Six Million
Director |
1932 | |||
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The Age of Consent
Director |
1932 | |||
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The Half-Naked Truth
Director, Screenwriter |
1932 | |||
|
Laugh and Get Rich
Director, Screenwriter |
1931 | |||
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Smart Woman
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Big News
Director |
1929 | |||
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His First Command
Director, Screenwriter |
1929 | |||
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Saturday's Children
Director |
1929 | |||
|
Feel My Pulse
Director |
1928 | |||
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Half a Bride
Director |
1928 | |||
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Gay Defender
Director |
1927 | |||
|
Paradise for Two
Director, Producer |
1927 | |||
|
Running Wild
Director, Screen Story, Screenwriter |
1927 | |||
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Tell It to Sweeney
Director, Producer |
1927 | |||
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Let's Get Married
Director |
1926 | |||
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Say It Again
Director |
1926 | |||
|
So's Your Old Man
Director, Producer |
1926 | |||
|
Womanhandled
Director |
1925 | |||
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Restless Wives
Director |
1924 | |||
|
New School Teacher
Director |
1923 | |||
|
Wild and Wicked
Director |
1923 | |||
|
The Breath of a Nation
Director, Producer |
1919 |



