by Hans J. Wollstein
biography
A former cameraman, American director William J. Craft became a mainstay of the Universal action units, where he helmed scores of two-reel Westerns and such serial fare as With Stanley in Africa (1922) and Beast of Paradise (1923). In a roundabout way, Craft later passed on all he knew to his young assistant William Wyler, whom he reportedly often left in charge while catching a nap or two behind some scenery. Turning from B-Westerns to comedy in the late '20s, Craft directed several of the then-popular Cohens and Kelly farces. He died from injuries sustained when his car ran off a cliff in Pacific Palisades, CA.
