Howard Hawks

Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. The critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." Roger Ebert called Hawks "one of the greatest American directors of pure movies, and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in so many different kinds of genre material.