- Born
- Died
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- A former magazine illustrator, Harry Lachman traveled to Paris in 1911 to begin an art career, and soon became recognized as a first-rate post-Impressionist painter. Decorated for his contributions to art by the French government, Lachman afterwards became a set designer at a film studio in Nice. In 1925 American director Rex Ingram hired him as an assistant director on Mare Nostrum (1926) and soon thereafter Lachman gave up his painting career and traveled to England to began a career as a film director. He returned to France and made several films, then journeyed to the U.S. in 1933 and settled in Hollywood. Mainly given B-pictures, his best films were a Laurel and Hardy comedy, Our Relations (1936), and Dante's Inferno (1935), where his painter's eye was evident in the intense ten-minute hell sequence. Lachman ended his career with a Charlie Chan movie in the 1940s, and returned to painting. His artworks can be seen in such museums as Spain's Prado and the Luxembourg Museum.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- Harry Lachman was born in LaSalle, Illinois, and became a magazine illustrator in Chicago, drawing covers for "Colliers," "The Saturday Evening Post," "Leslie's" and "Cosmopolitan." He moved to Paris in 1911 and his works are hung in several European museums as well as the Chicago Art Institute. He received the Legion of Honor from the French government for services rendered and artistic achievement in 1922. After a 30-year career as a film director, he returned to painting in the 1950s and was again decorated by the French government with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1965.
In addition to his film directing, he managed MGM's studio in Nice, and moves to British International in London, followed by two years working for Paramount in Europe. He returned to the U.S. to direct films for Twentieth Century Fox.
He was married to Chinese-American concert singer Quon Tai, who performed on the Keith circuit and was making $1,500 a week before she quit and was living on the French Riviera, studying opera with Bartholomew, who trained Caruso, Mary Garden and Grace Moore. Her goal was to be the first Chinese-American opera singer. But she abandoned her career when she met and married Lachman in 1938 in Alpes-Maritimes, France.
The Lachmans moved to Beverly Hills, spending a year in Paris in 1939, and were active in the film colony social scene. They amassed a fabulous collection of art, including a Renoir, a friend of Harry's, and Igor Stravinsky composed a concerto for the beautiful Tai. Lachman was also an accomplished photographer. Tai died September 24, 1991, survived by a sister.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sylvia Stoddard
- SpouseQuon Tai(January 29, 1938 - March 19, 1975) (his death)
- Educated at the University of Michigan. Former magazine illustrator and post-impressionist painter.
- Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
- Lachman's nephew was Charles Lachman, founder of Revlon with Joseph and Charles Revson.
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