The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Sidney Franklin was a Hollywood director, producer, screenwriter and actor who became one of MGM’s top directors and producers. At age 20, Franklin got his start in the industry as an assistant cameraman and eventually he and his brother, Chester M. Franklin, co-directed a number of comedy shorts and features for children, including “Gretchen the Greenhorn” (1916) with Dorothy Gish. He went to work at MGM in 1926 and directed and produced a number of sophisticated comedies and dramas. He had a close relationship with Irving Thalberg, the studio’s “Boy Wonder” production executive, and directed Thalberg’s wife, Norma Shearer, in several films, including “The Actress” (1928), “Smilin’ Through” (1932) and “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” (1934). He also directed Greta Garbo in “Wild Orchids” (1929) and guided Luise Rainer to an Academy Award in “The Good Earth” (1937), for which he earned an Oscar nomination. He left directing after completing “The Good Earth” and went on to produce some of MGM’s greatest pictures in the 1940s, including “Waterloo Bridge” (1940), “Random Harvest” (1942), and the Academy Award-winning films “Mrs. Miniver” (1942) and “The Yearling” (1946). — Kelsey Ramos for the Los Angeles Times