{{Short description|American actor (1901–1977)}} {{Infobox person | name = Hamilton MacFadden | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1901|4|26}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1977|1|1|1901|4|26}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Actor <br> Writer <br> Director | years_active = 1930–1945 (film) | alma_mater = Harvard University | parents = | spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage |Violet Dunn|1929|1933|end=div.}}|{{marriage |Ruth Channing|1934|1949|end=div.}}|{{marriage |Vada Roberts Ward|1949|<!--unknown-->}}}} }}
'''Hamilton MacFadden''' (April 26, 1901 – January 1, 1977{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}) was an American actor, screenwriter and film director.
== Early years == MacFadden's parents were Rev. Robert A. MacFadden and Edith Hamilton MacFadden. His father died in 1909, leaving his mother to support herself and four children. In 1928, she became the first woman to file papers to run for governor of Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news |title=Candidate Calls Tax Exemption Crying Evil |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24929498/the_boston_globe/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 31, 1928 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=13}}</ref>
== Career == MacFadden was a 1925 graduate of Harvard University. Soon after graduating, he became producer of the American Theatre Company, which presented plays for 10 weeks in the Boston area. The project was backed by Michael Strange, a writer who made her professional stage debut in the productions.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs Barrymore to Go on Stage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24928387/the_boston_globe/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 20, 1925 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = October 28, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> He also served as director of the Community Arts Association in Santa Barbara, California, and the Theatre Guild School of Acting in New York.<ref>{{cite news |title=Theatre Notes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24928878/daily_news/ |work=Daily News |date=April 9, 1926 |location=New York, New York City |page=40|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = October 28, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Plays that MacFadden produced on Broadway included ''Gods of the Lightning'' and ''La Gringa''.<ref name="marriage" /> After starting out on Broadway in the 1920s, he moved into filmmaking in Hollywood. During the early 1930s he was a contract director at Fox. McFadden made a number of films for them including several early entries in the Charlie Chan series such as ''Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1931).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanke |first1=Ken |title=Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786486618 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dnq4DgAAQBAJ&q=inauthor%3AKen+Hanke |accessdate=29 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref> He was released from his Fox contract following the 1934 merger with Twentieth Century Pictures. Thereafter he mixed occasional directing jobs with a number of small supporting appearances in films.
Later in his career, MacFadden was associate chief of the United States Department of State's international motion picture division.<ref name="sr" />
==Personal life== MacFadden married actress Violet Dunn on March 30, 1929, in New York City.<ref name="marriage">{{cite news |title=Hamilton MacFadden Wed: Theatrical Producer Is Married to Violet Dunn, Actress |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/02/archives/hamilton-macfadden-wed-theatrical-producer-is-married-to-violet.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=April 2, 1929 |page=14|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She obtained a divorce from him on September 20, 1933.<ref>{{cite news |title=Violet Dunn, Actress, Wins Divorce from Her Husband |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-violet-dunn/147152357/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=September 22, 1933 |page=5|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> On September 29, 1934, he married actress Ruth Channing in Santa Barbara, California;<ref name="dn">{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Henry |title=State Aid's Pink Smear Was Lipstick, Says Wife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-hamilton-macfadden/147153598/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Daily News |date=December 29, 1948 |location=New York, New York City |page=6|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> they were divorced in 1949.<ref name="alimony">{{cite news |title=Boy Wonder Shrinks To $46-a-Week Size |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-hamilton-macfadden/147230212/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Daily News |date=December 10, 1954 |location=New York, New York City |page=M 1|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> He married actress Vada Roberts Ward on October 29, 1949, in Fairfield, Connecticut.<ref name="sr">{{cite news |title=Vada Ward becomes bride of motion picture official |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record/147226980/ |access-date=May 12, 2024 |work=Stockton Record |date=November 4, 1949 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512205431/https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record/147226980/ |archive-date=May 12, 2024 |page=28|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>
==Selected filmography==
===Director=== * ''Harmony at Home'' (1930) * ''Crazy That Way'' (1930) * ''Oh, For a Man!'' (1930) * ''Are You There?'' (1930) * ''Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1931) * ''The Black Camel'' (1931) * ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' (1931) * ''Charlie Chan's Greatest Case'' (1933) * ''As Husbands Go'' (1934) * ''Stand Up and Cheer!'' (1934) * ''Sea Racketeers'' (1937) * ''The Legion of Missing Men'' (1937) * ''Escape by Night'' (1937) * ''It Can't Last Forever'' (1937) * ''Inside the Law'' (1942)
===Actor=== {{Div col}} * ''The Black Camel'' (1931) - Val Martino (uncredited) * ''Keep Smiling'' (1938) - Director (uncredited) * ''Time Out for Murder'' (1938) - One of the Reporters (uncredited) * ''Touchdown, Army'' (1938) - Coach Shelby (uncredited) * ''Five of a Kind'' (1938) - Andrew Gordon * ''Tarnished Angel'' (1938) - Reverend Summers * ''Sharpshooters'' (1938) - Bowman * ''While New York Sleeps'' (1938) - Pete - Reporter (uncredited) * ''Pardon Our Nerve'' (1939) - Announcer (uncredited) * ''Unmarried'' (1939) - Assistant Coach (uncredited) * ''Charlie Chan in Reno'' (1939) - Night Clerk * ''The Jones Family in Hollywood'' (1939) - Townsend - Director * ''Chicken Wagon Family'' (1939) - Auctioneer * ''Shooting High'' (1940) - J. Wallace Rutledge * ''The Lady in Question'' (1940) - Guard (uncredited) * ''Pier 13'' (1940) - Reporter (uncredited) * ''Yesterday's Heroes'' (1940) - Reporter (uncredited) * ''Michael Shayne, Private Detective'' (1940) - Reporter (uncredited) * ''The Reluctant Dragon'' (1941) - Himself * ''Ride, Kelly, Ride'' (1941) - Race Track Steward * ''Sleepers West'' (1941) - Conductor Meyers * ''Dressed to Kill'' (1941) - Reporter * ''Charlie Chan in Rio'' (1941) - Bill Kellogg * ''Young America'' (1942) - Jim Benson * ''Wilson'' (1944) - Minor Role (uncredited) (final film role) {{div col end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0532187}}
{{Authority control}} {{Hamilton MacFadden}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacFadden, Hamilton}} Category:1901 births Category:1977 deaths Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male film actors Category:Film directors from Massachusetts Category:Male actors from Boston Category:20th-century American male actors Category:Writers from Boston Category:Screenwriters from Massachusetts Category:Harvard University alumni Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American screenwriters