Born in Madison, Wisconsin and educated at that city's branch of the University of Wisconsin, Nick Grinde was in films as a writer and director from the late 1920s onward. In the early talkie era, Grinde was often brought in as troubleshooter to help Broadway-trained directors with the rudiments of filmmaking: he co-directed The Bishop Murder Case (1930) with David Burton and Good News (1930) with Edgar J. McGregor. Briefly employed at Hal Roach studios in 1934, Grinde was one the writers on the Laurel and Hardy extravaganza Babes in Toyland (1934), in which his then-wife Marie Wilson played a small part. Most of Grinde's films as director were fast-moving, efficient little programmers; among his more memorable productions of the early 1940s were two of Boris Karloff's "mad doctor" "B" series at Columbia, The Man With Nine Lives (1940) and Before I Hang (1940). Perhaps his oddest endeavor was Hitler: Dead or Alive (1943), which speculated that Adolph Hitler could be vanquished simply by shaving off his mustache! Nick Grinde ended his filmmaking activities in 1945, after which he became one of the pioneer directors of the fledgling medium called television.
by Hal Erickson
biography
