Jan. 6, 1963 - Frank Tuttle (pictured left in 1942), a movie director who made more than 70 films, died today at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles following a heart attack. he was 70 years old. Tuttle, who at one time earned $3,000 a week and worked with many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, was hospitalized Dec. 19 when he was stricken by a coronary thrombosis. One of the founders of the Screen Directors Guild, Tuttle began his movie career after World War I and worked with Clara Bow, Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby, George Raft, and Alan Ladd (right). He gave Ladd his first starring role in 1941 in the film “This Gun for Hire.” Ladd, reached at his Palm Springs home, expressed a sense of personal loss at Tuttle’s death, calling the director “a great talent.” Tuttle’s career dipped in 1951 when he admitted before the House Un-American Activities Committee that he was a member of the Communist Party from 1937 to 1947. Tuttle told the committee he regretted his former membership in the party, adding that many Communists did not realize they were in a conspiracy to overthrow the government.
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