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Herschel Daugherty
Herschel Eldon Daugherty (October 27, 1910 – March 5, 1993) was an American television and film director and occasional actor.
Born in Clarks Hill, Indiana, to Charles Emerson and Blanche Eracene Daugherty (né Feerer), Daugherty graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and was awarded a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse School of the Theater, where he later served as one of its associate directors. In 1942, Daugherty was signed by Warner Brothers as a dialogue director, in which capacity he served for roughly a decade before moving to TV as a full-fledged director. During that period, he also had a number of small acting roles, most of them uncredited. Speaking in 1979, he recalled, "I was in front of a camera just long enough to know I'd do best behind it. It's much easier to tell people what to do." Daugherty's own difficulties onscreen informed his approach to directing:
I like to think I was a coach. Something like Knute Rockne. I want to make it possible for actors to play over their heads, to desire to be better than ever before. I want to give them faith in themselves, to believe in themselves. [...] I never figured there was any point in being like DeMille or some of the others. I watched him tear a young actress apart one day. He had already destroyed her, but he kept going on and on. I realized then there's no way you can act when someone's yelling at you. I was determined that wasn't going to be my approach.
As to just what that approach was and how it differed from DeMille, some comments made in November 1956 by Piper Laurie, then a soon-to-be 25-year-old, studio-promoted starlet—struggling to break free from that image and fresh on the heels of co-starring in a film under Daugherty's direction—may be beneficial.
I'm not the most experienced actress in the world. I would like to be, and I found more attention given to my acting on "The Road That Led Afar" than in most of the pictures I've played. [...] In this role the directors have given me a sense of freedom in acting for the first time in my life.
Regarding director Jean Negulesco, with whom he worked at both Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, Daugherty recalled:
Negulesco was a great artist, but he couldn't care less about acting. He let me handle all the actors and let me rehearse all the scenes. He told me, "You can do all the work so long as you give me the credit."
Actor Dale Robertson, who would work with both Daugherty and Negulesco on Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), is less charitable in his assessment of the film's nominal director:
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Herschel Daugherty
Herschel Eldon Daugherty (October 27, 1910 – March 5, 1993) was an American television and film director and occasional actor.
Born in Clarks Hill, Indiana, to Charles Emerson and Blanche Eracene Daugherty (né Feerer), Daugherty graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and was awarded a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse School of the Theater, where he later served as one of its associate directors. In 1942, Daugherty was signed by Warner Brothers as a dialogue director, in which capacity he served for roughly a decade before moving to TV as a full-fledged director. During that period, he also had a number of small acting roles, most of them uncredited. Speaking in 1979, he recalled, "I was in front of a camera just long enough to know I'd do best behind it. It's much easier to tell people what to do." Daugherty's own difficulties onscreen informed his approach to directing:
I like to think I was a coach. Something like Knute Rockne. I want to make it possible for actors to play over their heads, to desire to be better than ever before. I want to give them faith in themselves, to believe in themselves. [...] I never figured there was any point in being like DeMille or some of the others. I watched him tear a young actress apart one day. He had already destroyed her, but he kept going on and on. I realized then there's no way you can act when someone's yelling at you. I was determined that wasn't going to be my approach.
As to just what that approach was and how it differed from DeMille, some comments made in November 1956 by Piper Laurie, then a soon-to-be 25-year-old, studio-promoted starlet—struggling to break free from that image and fresh on the heels of co-starring in a film under Daugherty's direction—may be beneficial.
I'm not the most experienced actress in the world. I would like to be, and I found more attention given to my acting on "The Road That Led Afar" than in most of the pictures I've played. [...] In this role the directors have given me a sense of freedom in acting for the first time in my life.
Regarding director Jean Negulesco, with whom he worked at both Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, Daugherty recalled:
Negulesco was a great artist, but he couldn't care less about acting. He let me handle all the actors and let me rehearse all the scenes. He told me, "You can do all the work so long as you give me the credit."
Actor Dale Robertson, who would work with both Daugherty and Negulesco on Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), is less charitable in his assessment of the film's nominal director: