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George Sherman; Prolific Filmmaker

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George Sherman, a prolific film director, producer and writer whose credits rival in number those of anyone in the entertainment industry, has died of heart and kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

His wife and production partner, Cleo Ronson, said the New York City-born Sherman, who guided Gene Autry and John Wayne through many of their earliest low-budget pictures, was 82 when he died Friday.

Many of his 175 pictures were made at Republic Pictures and filmed in a week or less. Additionally, he has writing or directing credits for 35 TV specials and contributed to 200 television episodes.

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He began directing at Republic in 1938 after working for several years as an assistant to George Marshall on two-reel comedies at the old Mack Sennett studios. He became the primary director of “The Three Mesquiteers” sagebrush series which alternately starred Wayne, Max Terhune, Bob Livingstone, Ray (Crash) Corrigan, Duncan Reynoldo and other early Western stars.

His last feature film directing credit also involved Wayne--”Big Jake” in 1971.

Some of his better-known pictures were “The Bandit of Sherwood Forest,” “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Comanche,” “Hell Bent for Leather,” “The Comancheros,” “Hello Down There,” and “Little Mo,” a production originally made for television based on the life of tennis star Maureen Connolly.

Besides his wife he is survived by four daughters and nine grandchildren, who ask that contributions be made in his name to the Motion Picture & TV Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.

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