George Roy Hill filmography

George Roy Hill (1921–2002)^[1] was an American film director whose work in theater, television, and film spanned over four decades. Known for his successful collaborations with actors Robert Redford and Paul Newman,^[2][3] Hill directed fourteen feature films in a variety of genres, including romance, musicals, and historical pieces,^[4] while his notable Western feature, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), is regarded for its watershed influence on 1960s–1970s Hollywood.^[a]

Hill began his career during television's first Golden Age in the 1950s, writing, directing, and acting in episodes for the early television plays of Kraft Television Theatre,^[9] following a brief career on stage working in off-Broadway roles.^[10] As an actor, Hill appeared in a supporting role in the feature film noir picture Walk East on Beacon (1952).^[10] He drew from his military experiences in the Korean War to write screenplays for the TV drama episodes "My Brother's Keeper" and "Keep Our Honor Bright" in 1953.^[11] Hill began directing teleplays for episodes of Pond's Theater and Lux Video Theatre in 1954,^[12][13] while continuing to work on Kraft Theater and eventually earning two Emmy nominations for his writing and direction of the episode "A Night to Remember" in 1956.^[10] He directed several notable episodes of the anthology series Playhouse 90, including "The Helen Morgan Story" (1957), "The Last Clear Chance" (1958), "Child of Our Time" (1958), and "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1959), as well as episodes for The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, before ultimately returning to Broadway directing in 1957.^[2]

In 1962, Hill made his film directorial debut with his feature adaptation of Period of Adjustment, starring Tony Franciosa and Jane Fonda in one of her earliest breakthrough roles.^[14][2] He continued a brief run of stage-to-film adaptations with his subsequent release of Toys in the Attic (1963), from Lillian Hellman's play of the same name.^[2] Hill's next film, The World of Henry Orient (1964), was adapted from a novel by Nora Johnson and starred Peter Sellers as the eccentric concert pianist Henry Orient.^[15][9] After replacing Fred Zinnemann as appointed director, Hill achieved his first major commercial success with the large-budget blockbuster release Hawaii (1966).^[13] Hill then directed the 1967 musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, starring Julie Andrews, which became one of the highest-grossing films of that year in North America, and was nominated for seven Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.^[16]

Hill directed Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the 1969 Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid from a screenplay by William Goldman, which became a major commercial and critical success. He followed this with Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) before reuniting with Newman and Redford for The Sting (1973), which won seven of its 10 Oscar nominations at the 46th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.^[13] The combined success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting briefly made Hill the only director to have made two of the ten highest-grossing films in motion picture history.^[17] His later work included The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Slap Shot (1977), A Little Romance (1979), The World According to Garp (1982), The Little Drummer Girl (1984), and Funny Farm (1988), after which he retired from filmmaking to teach drama at Yale University.^[2]