Born in Oakland, California, George Stevens was 17 when he got a job at the Hal Roach Studios as an assistant cameraman. He learned the art of visual storytelling while shooting mostly low-budget westerns, and within a couple years he was director of photography and a writer of gags on the comedies of Stan Laurel and and Oliver Hardy. His first credited work as a cameraman was the 1923 Stan Laurel short Roughest Africa. He went on to direct such memorable films as Shane, Giant, A Place in the Sun, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Greatest Story Ever Told.
George Stevens died following a heart attack at 70 years of age.
