- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Wesley Horne
- Horne worked at a number of studios in the early 1920s and directed his first short at The Hal Roach Studios in 1925. He also directed Buster Keaton's successful "College" in 1927. Horne direct ten two-reel shorts for the Hal Roach All Star series between 1925 and 1926. Horne returned to Roach in 1929 and directed late silent shorts for Charley Chase and most significantly, Laurel & Hardy's classic "Big Business." Horne's first talkie for Roach was "Whispering Whoopie" with Charley Chase in 1930; he directed more than 30 sound shorts for Roach, including Laurel & Hardy's "Chickens Come Home" and the 4-reel "Beau Hunks" in which, not being able to find an actor to play an Arabian Riff, played the part himself. While Hal Roach had other directors working on the English language versions of Stan and Ollie's films he preferred Janes to work on the German, French and Spanish versions. Horne left the Roach Studios in 1932 but returned in 1935 to direct their last short "Thicker Than Water" and was an uncredited writer and the credited director of Laurel & Hardy's features "Bonnie Scotland," "The Bohemian Girl" and "Way Out West." Later he worked at Columbia where he produced a number of serials.- IMDb Mini Biography By: tonyman5 and Craig Calman
- SpousesCleo Ridgely(1916 - June 29, 1942) (his death, 2 children)? (first) (divorced)
- Children
- ParentsCharles Wesley HorneEdith C. Woodthorpe Dobson
- RelativesGeorge Stevens(Niece or Nephew)Jack Stevens(Niece or Nephew)Georgia Woodthorpe(Aunt or Uncle)Jackie Cooper Jr.(Grandchild)
- Uncle of George Stevens and Jack Stevens.
- Best remembered for his direction of Charley Chase, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedies for Hal Roach, Horne helmed a single "Our Gang" feature, When the Wind Blows (1930). One of the children in the cast would have been Horne's son-in-law, had he lived: In 1944, two years after his death, Horne's daughter June Harris married Jackie Cooper.
- Great-uncle of George Stevens Jr..
- Director of Big Business (1929), one of the first 100 films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry.
- Nephew of Georgia Woodthorpe.
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