American film director, writer, and actor (1881–1955)
William Nigh |
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 Nigh in 1916 |
| Born | Emil Kreuske
(1881-10-12)October 12, 1881
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| Died | November 27, 1955(1955-11-27) (aged 74)
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| Other names | Will Nigh
William Nye |
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| Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter, actor |
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| Years active | 1913–1948 |
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William Nigh, born Emil Kreuske (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955), was an American film director, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye".
Biography
Nigh was born Emil Kreuske[1] in Berlin, Wisconsin. He began his film career as an actor, appearing in 17 films in 1913 and 1914; he also directed one of these, Salomy Jane. He acted in eight more films in the 1910s and two more in the 1920s, but he is known mainly as a director, and an extremely prolific one at that, with a total output of 119 films, the last in 1948. Most of his directorial output was in the "B"-movie category, and he worked mainly for lower-rung studios such as Monogram Pictures (where he directed several "Mr. Wong" and "East Side Kids" films) and Producers Releasing Corporation, although he did occasionally work for such "majors" as RKO Pictures and such "mini-majors" and "minors" as Universal and Republic Pictures. His film-writing credits numbered 18, mostly concentrated early in his career.
His films included Mr. Wise Guy, Thunder, Black Dragons, Corregidor, Mr. Wong, Detective, The Mystery of Mr. Wong, Mr. Wong in Chinatown, Lady from Chungking, The Fatal Hour, The Ape, Doomed to Die, Lord Byron of Broadway, and Casey of the Coast Guard.
Nigh died in Burbank, California at the age of 74.
