Hawks, Howard (Howard Winchester Hawks), 1896-1977, American film director, b. Goshen, Ind. Although not as well known as such contemporaries as John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock, he has been critically acclaimed as one of the 20th cent.'s best motion picture directors. His directorial career began in the silent film era with The Road to Glory (1926). Hawks's uncomplicated and unpretentious style, visual clarity, and sense for crisp dialogue are evident in his more than 40 films, which cover an unusually wide variety of cinematic genres. Many of his works have become classics, including the war film The Dawn Patrol (1930), the gangster movie Scarface (1932), the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), the romantic adventure To Have and Have Not (1944), the detective story The Big Sleep (1946), the Western Red River (1948), and the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The lucid, direct style that made Hawks the ultimate Hollywood professional has been an important influence on many of today's filmmakers.

(born May 30, 1896, Goshen, Ind., U.S.—died Dec. 26, 1977, Palm Springs, Calif.) U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. He served as a pilot in World War I, then wrote screenplays in Hollywood (from 1922) and directed several projects before making his first major film, A Girl in Every Port (1928). A master technician and storyteller, he created a sense of intimacy by filming from eye level. He directed over 40 films (many of which he also produced and wrote) in a variety of genres: adventure (The Dawn Patrol, 1930), crime (Scarface, 1932), comedy (Bringing Up Baby, 1938), war (Sergeant York, 1941), musicals (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953), film noir (The Big Sleep, 1946), science fiction (The Thing, 1951), and westerns (Red River, 1948; Rio Bravo, 1959).

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