Motion Picture Director. Descended from three generations of stage actors, he was born in San Francisco and entered films as a bit player and gag writer for producer Mack Sennett. He moved up to directing slapstick shorts in 1922 and lowbrow comedy would remain his forte after he graduated to features at Columbia in 1934. Under contract at Universal from 1940 to 1956, he helmed several Abbott and Costello yuckfests and five entries in the popular "Ma and Pa Kettle" series, starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. He also worked with Buster Keaton, Shirley Temple, Charley Chase, and The Three Stooges. Efficient and budget-conscious, Lamont was unusual among comedy directors in sticking to the scripts and refusing to let his stars improvise, with earthbound and often pedestrian results. But he has acquired something of a cult reputation for his deliberately campy adventure films, paticularly "Salome - Where She Danced" (1945) and "Frontier Gal" (1945), which made a star of Yvonne De Carlo. His over 80 feature films include "Moonlight in Hawaii" (1940), "Hit the Ice" (1943), "Slave Girl" (1947), "Ma and Pa Kettle" (1949), "Flame of Araby" (1951), "Ma and Pa Kettle at Home" (1954), "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" (1955), and "Francis in the Haunted House" (1956). He ended his career in television. In 1987 Lamont was interviewed for the TV documentary "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow". He died at 98 at the Motion Picture Country Home.
Motion Picture Director. Descended from three generations of stage actors, he was born in San Francisco and entered films as a bit player and gag writer for producer Mack Sennett. He moved up to directing slapstick shorts in 1922 and lowbrow comedy would remain his forte after he graduated to features at Columbia in 1934. Under contract at Universal from 1940 to 1956, he helmed several Abbott and Costello yuckfests and five entries in the popular "Ma and Pa Kettle" series, starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. He also worked with Buster Keaton, Shirley Temple, Charley Chase, and The Three Stooges. Efficient and budget-conscious, Lamont was unusual among comedy directors in sticking to the scripts and refusing to let his stars improvise, with earthbound and often pedestrian results. But he has acquired something of a cult reputation for his deliberately campy adventure films, paticularly "Salome - Where She Danced" (1945) and "Frontier Gal" (1945), which made a star of Yvonne De Carlo. His over 80 feature films include "Moonlight in Hawaii" (1940), "Hit the Ice" (1943), "Slave Girl" (1947), "Ma and Pa Kettle" (1949), "Flame of Araby" (1951), "Ma and Pa Kettle at Home" (1954), "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" (1955), and "Francis in the Haunted House" (1956). He ended his career in television. In 1987 Lamont was interviewed for the TV documentary "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow". He died at 98 at the Motion Picture Country Home.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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