The Magician

Rex Ingram was an Irish film director, producer, writer and actor. Legendary director Erich von Stroheim once called him "the world's greatest director." Born Reginald Ingram Montgomery Hitchcock in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a clergyman. He was educated at Saint Columba's College, near... Rathfarnam, County Dublin. He spent most of his adolescent life living in the Old Rectory, Kinnitty, Birr, County Offaly where his father was the Church of Ireland rector. He emigrated to the United States in 1911. His brother Francis Clere Hitchcock went on to join the British army and fought during World War I where he was awarded the Military Cross and rose to the rank of Colonel. Ingram studied sculpture at the Yale University School of Art, but soon moved into film, first taking acting work from 1913 and then writing, producing and directing. His first work as producer-director was in 1916 on the romantic drama The Great Problem. He worked for Edison Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Vitagraph Studios, and then MGM, directing mainly action or supernatural films. In 1920, he moved to Metro, where he was under supervision of executive June Mathis.
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