William Nigh

William Nigh (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955) was an American film director, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye".

William Nigh
Nigh in 1916
Born
Emil Kreuske

(1881-10-12)October 12, 1881
Berlin, Wisconsin
DiedNovember 27, 1955(1955-11-27) (aged 74)
Burbank, California
OccupationDirector, screenwriter, actor
Years active1913–1948

Biography

Nigh was born Emil Kreuske[1] in Berlin, Wisconsin. He began his film career as an actor, appearing in 17 films in 1913 and 1914; he also directed one of these, Salomy Jane. He acted in eight more films in the 1910s and two more in the 1920s, but he is known mainly as a director, and an extremely prolific one at that, with a total output of 119 films, the last in 1948. Most of his directorial output was in the "B"-movie category, and he worked mainly for lower-rung studios such as Monogram Pictures (where he directed several "Charlie Chan" and "East Side Kids" films) and Producers Releasing Corporation, although he did occasionally work for such "majors" as RKO Pictures and such "mini-majors" and "minors" as Universal and Republic Pictures. His film-writing credits numbered 18, mostly concentrated early in his career.

His films included Mr. Wise Guy, Thunder, Black Dragons, Corregidor, Mr. Wong, Detective, The Mystery of Mr. Wong, Mr. Wong in Chinatown, Lady from Chungking, The Fatal Hour, The Ape, Doomed to Die, Lord Byron of Broadway, and Casey of the Coast Guard.

Nigh died in Burbank, California at the age of 74.

Partial filmography

Director

Actor
  • Salomy Jane (1914) - Rufe Waters
  • A Royal Family (1915) - Minister of Police
  • Her Debt of Honor (1916) - Olin Varcoe
  • Notorious Gallagher; or, His Great Triumph (1916) - Buttsy Gallagher
  • Life's Shadows (1916) - Martin Bradley
  • The Blue Streak (1917) - The Blue Streak
  • My Four Years in Germany (1918) - Socialist
  • The Rainbow Trail (1918) - Shad
  • Beware! (1919) - German Officer
  • Democracy: The Vision Restored (1920) - David Fortune
  • Among the Missing (1923) - The Deserter
  • Fear-Bound (1925) - Jim Tumble (final film role)

References
  1. Silent Film Necrology, p. 393 2nd edition c.2001 by Eugene Michael Vazzana
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