Yes, many directors have impacted modern cinema who also served their country in a time of need and/or as a patriotic duty. These include the following screen craft masters, some of which may be a surprise to you.
Also Read: Hollywood can bridge the divide between civilians and the military. It doesn’t.
Here is a fresh list of film directors who served in the military:
1. Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent’s career as a director spanned from the early 1950s to the late 2000s, and he won four Emmys during his career.
Before getting into Hollywood, Sargent served in the U.S. Army during World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He worked with some top talent, including Gregory Peck, Burt Reynolds, Sidney Poitier, Alfre Woodward, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Dern, Michael Caine, Eva Marie Saint, Kathy Bates, Danny Glover, Sally Field, Kenneth Branagh, Kirstie Alley, Andy Garcia, James Earl Jones, Leonard Nimoy, James Garner, Claudia Cardinale, Ned Beatty, Robert Shaw, and Walter Matthau.
Sargent directed such films as “White Lightning,” “MacArthur,” “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” and “Nightmares.” He is best known for working with Peck, who played the titular role in “MacArthur.” After his time directing movies, Sargent worked on such TV projects as “Something the Lord Made,” “Out of the Ashes,” and “Warm Springs.”
Sargent died in 2014 at the age of 89.
2. Robert Altman
Robert Altman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director five times. After graduating from Wentworth Military Academy in Missouri, he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He flew 50-plus bombing missions in a B-24 Liberator as a co-pilot in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. His unit was the 307th Bomb Group.
When he was discharged, he moved to California and sold his first script, “Bodyguard,” to RKO in 1948. That script was eventually made into a feature film of the same name.
Altman then attempted to start a career as a writer without much success and then became a writer and director for industrial films. Altman then moved into TV and directing. He directed such TV shows as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Bonanza,” “Maverick,” “Peter Gunn,” and “Route 66.”
Altman flowed right into directing movies with “Countdown,” which starred Robet Duvall and James Caan. His first big hit for the silver screen was “M*A*S*H” which starred Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland and earned five Academy Award nominations.
Altman struck gold again with “Nashville,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for Best Original Song by Keith Carradine.
Altman’s career through the later 1970s and 1980s involved less mainstream hits and more independent features. In 1988, he created “Tanner ’88,” a mockumentary about a presidential campaign. It spawned a sequel 16 years later: “Tanner on Tanner.”
Altman made a comeback with “The Player” in 1992, which satirizes the life of a Hollywood executive and features many notable cameos—including from Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis. “The Player” received three Oscar nominations, and Altman won the Best Director award for the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Altman’s last big hit was the murder mystery “Gosford Park,” which won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Altman died in 2006 at the age of 81.
3. David Ayer
David Ayer emerged first as a screenwriter on such projects as “Training Day,” “The Fast and the Furious,” and “S.W.A.T.” That led to directing films, including “End of Watch,” “Suicide Squad,” “Fury,” and “Bright.”
He grew up in Minnesota and Maryland when a falling-out with his parents led to him moving to Los Angeles. L.A. became the setting in many of his films. He painted houses after dropping out of high school and then he joined the Navy in 1986. Ayer served as a submarine sonar technician on the USS Haddo, which inspired his screenplay for “U-571.”
Ayer worked with top talent, including Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Viola Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Olivia Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Noomi Rapace, Jared Leto, Sam Worthington, and Joel Edgerton. He continues in the industry and runs his own company, called Cedar Park Entertainment.
4. Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks became known first in Hollywood for his excellent screenplays. However, he began writing in the theater with plays.
He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and found little success as a writer, so he joined the Marine Corps in 1943. Brooks served in the Corps during World War II at Quantico, Virginia, and at Camp Pendleton, California, for the service’s film unit.
He wrote a novel, “The Brick Foxhole,” which was adapted to the screen with “Crossfire,” which starred Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan. Through his fledgling writing career, Brooks developed a relationship with Humphrey Bogart and wrote the screenplay for “Key Largo.” He then transitioned to directing in the 1950s with hits such as “Blackboard Jungle”; that movie helped open the door for a young Sidney Poitier, who has a role in the film.
Another seminal movie that Brooks directed in the ’50s was “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. His rise continued with films such as “Elmer Gantry,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,”and “The Professionals.”
In the 1960s, Brooks adapted Truman Capote’s bestselling novel, “In Cold Blood,” for the big screen. Brooks then went on to make “Bite the Bullit,” starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, and James Coburn; “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” with Diane Keaton; and “Wrong is Right” with Sean Connery.
5. John Boorman
John Boorman is a British director behind such films as “Deliverance,” “Hell in the Pacific,” and “Point Blank.” His later films include “Excalibur,” “Hope and Glory,” “Queen and Country,” “The General,” and “The Emerald Forest.”
Boorman served in the British army during the Korean War; however, he did not see action. After his service, he took up different jobs such as a journalist and dry cleaner. He then made his way to TV and completed documentaries for the small screen.
His first break came with the opportunity to direct “Catch Us If You Can” about the pop band the Dave Clark Five, who were rivals of The Beatles. Boorman then directed Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson in “Point Blank.” He again worked with Marvin in the World War II film “Hell in the Pacific,” which is about an American pilot and a Japanese captain who are stranded on an island.
Boorman’s work on the 1972 film “Deliverance” earned him the most attention and praise in his career. The film was a box-office hit and earned three Oscar nominations.
