Norman Taurog

Directing

Norman Taurog

Born 1899-02-23 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 - April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. Between 1920 and 1968, Taurog directed over 140 films, and directed Elvis Presley in nine films, more movies than any other director. He won the 1931 Academy Award for Best Director for the film Skippy and held the record as the youngest director (32) to win for 86 years. He was later nominated for Best Director for the 1938 film, Boys Town. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Norman Taurog has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1600 Vine Street.

Acting credits

This Is Elvis poster
7.0

Though several actors portray Elvis Presley at different stages of his life, this documentary is comprised mostly of actual performance footage and interviews with Elvis, his fans and those close to him. This biographical docu-drama features rare footage of Elvis and dramatically recreated scenes from Elvis' life.

This Is Elvis

1981

Judy Garland: By Myself poster
8.3

As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever hear. The sanitized studio version of her life presented a smiling kid with the big voice, who, alongside Mickey Rooney, just wanted to put on a show. But drugs, overwork, even psychological abuse at the hands of the studio is now part of the Garland legend. But despite the number of Garland books and documentaries, one account has always been missing -- Garland herself never managed to write a memoir. She did make several attempts at an autobiography, often recording stories on a tape recorder. Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), finally fills in the blanks - using Judy's personal recordings to tell the story in her own words.

Judy Garland: By Myself

2004

No artwork available
8.0

This short plugs the new tunes written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel for the movie "College Rhythm" and shows the audience how they were written and rehearsed. Naturally it also advertises the movie.

Hollywood Rhythm

1934

The Fly-Cop poster
5.6

Larry going investigating an Oriental opium den. And opium is to Larry what spinach is for Popeye!

The Fly-Cop

1920

No artwork available
7.0

An overview of Cole Porter’s musical contributions to the film Broadway Melody of 1940.

Cole Porter in Hollywood: Begin the Beguine

2003

Behind the camera

Spinout poster
5.6

Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy must choose between marrying a beautiful girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.

Spinout

1966

The Caddy poster
6.4

Although the son of a skilled golfer and an outstanding player in his own right, Harvey Miller is too nervous to play in front of a gallery, so he acts as coach and caddy for Joe Anthony, his girlfriend's brother.

The Caddy

1953

Blue Hawaii poster
6.1

Just discharged GI Chad Gates returns to Hawaii, where he becomes a tour guide, defying his mother's wishes for him to join the family business.

Blue Hawaii

1961

If I Had a Million poster
6.5

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

If I Had a Million

1932

G.I. Blues poster
6.5

Stationed in West Germany, soldier Tulsa McLean hopes to open a nightclub once he's discharged. Although he may lack the capital for such a venture, a chance to raise the cash comes his way through a friendly wager. Local dancer Lili is a notorious ice queen, and Tulsa bets everything he has that a friend of his can earn her affections. But when the friend is dispatched to Alaska, it's up to Tulsa to melt Lili's heart.

G.I. Blues

1960

Tickle Me poster
6.0

A singing rodeo rider takes a job at an all-female dude ranch, where he gets involved with a physical trainer and a treasure hunt for gold in a ghost town, leading to a showdown with kidnappers.

Tickle Me

1965

Girls! Girls! Girls! poster
5.4

When he learns that his boss is retiring to Arizona, sailor Ross Carpenter has to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he and his father built. Meanwhile, he's also caught between two women: insensitive club singer Robin and sweet Laurel.

Girls! Girls! Girls!

1962

Boys Town poster
6.8

Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.

Boys Town

1938

Living It Up poster
6.5

Homer Flagg is a railroad worker in the small New Mexico town of Desert Hole. One day, he finds an abandoned automobile at an old atomic proving ground. His doctor and best friend, Steve Harris, diagnoses him with radiation poisoning and gives Homer three weeks to live. A big city reporter hears of Homer's plight and convinces her editor to provide an all-expenses paid trip to New York.

Living It Up

1954

Newly Rich poster
4.3

Two small town widows bring their children to Hollywood, where their children become competing film stars. The girl is sweet, the boy is a killjoy sissy. For publicity, the rival families go to London to meet a middle European boy King. The three kids decide they need to escape their stifling lives and run away to the docks and join a gang.

Newly Rich

1931

Live a Little, Love a Little poster
5.5

Photographer Greg Nolan moonlights in two full-time jobs to pay the rent, but has trouble finding time to do them both without his bosses finding out.

Live a Little, Love a Little

1968

Skippy poster
6.1

Skippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.

Skippy

1931

No artwork available
10.0

Exasperated by his playboy son, a wealthy man sends him to Canada to become a Royal Canadian Mountie, in hopes that the young man will learn something about life.

Below Zero

1925

The Toast of New Orleans poster
5.2

Snooty opera singer meets a rough-and-tumble fisherman in the Louisiana bayous, but this fisherman can sing! Her agent lures him away to New Orleans to teach him to sing opera but comes to regret this rash decision when the singers fall in love.

The Toast of New Orleans

1950

You're Never Too Young poster
6.6

When an aspiring barber becomes inadvertently involved in the theft of a valuable diamond, necessity forces him to masquerade as a 12 year-old child - with humorous consequences.

You're Never Too Young

1955

Presenting Lily Mars poster
6.5

Starstruck Indiana small-town girl Lily is pestering theatrical producer John Thornway for a role but he is reluctant.

Presenting Lily Mars

1943

No artwork available
9.0

Cheap Skates is a lost film made by Educational Films, as a "Mermaid Comedy". Funny man Lige Conley starts scrambling when bees fly down his pants!

Cheap Skates

1925

Pardners poster
6.7

Rich momma's boy Wade Kingsley Jr. an Eastern dude, tries to follow in his murdered father's footsteps by returning to the West to partner up with Slim Moseley Jr.,the son of his father's former partner. Wade overcomes Slim's initial reluctance to accept him by using his fortune to buy a prize cow and new car to help Slim in his job as foreman on the Kingsley family ranch, currently under siege by a gang of outlaws called "masked raiders." Wade generously tries to pay off the ranch's mortgage with $15,000 of his own money, but unfortunately neither "pardner" realizes that respected banker Dan Hollis, the son of their fathers' murderer, is the leader of the gang.

Pardners

1956

It Happened at the World's Fair poster
5.8

Mike Edwards and Danny Burke fly a cropduster, but due to Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff takes custody of it. Trying to earn money, they hitchhike to the World's Fair in Seattle and, while Danny tries to earn money playing poker, Mike cares for a small girl whose father has disappeared.

It Happened at the World's Fair

1963

Broadway Melody of 1940 poster
6.8

Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.

Broadway Melody of 1940

1940

Double Trouble poster
5.0

When singer Guy Lambert goes on tour in Europe, he is pursued by two beautiful women, bumbling jewel thieves, and a mysterious killer.

Double Trouble

1967

Onionhead poster
5.5

An irresponsible student enlists in the Coast Guard expecting to sit out World War II.

Onionhead

1958

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine poster
5.2

Mad scientist Dr. Goldfoot has invented an army of bikini-clad robots programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Secret agent Craig Gamble and millionaire Todd Armstrong set out to foil his fiendish plot.

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

1965

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer poster
6.6

Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral and witnessing a murder.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

1938