Katherine Hilliker (born Katharine Clark, and sometimes referred to as Kitty Prosser) was an American screenwriter and film editor known for her work on films like Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. She was married to fellow writer-editor Harry H. Caldwell, with whom she often collaborated.[1]
Katherine Hilliker | |
|---|---|
 Katherine Hilliker, from a 1920 publication | |
| Born | Katharine Clark April 25, 1885 Tacoma, Washington, USA |
| Died | December 6, 1965 (aged 80) Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA |
| Other names | Kitty Prosser |
| Occupation | Film editor |
| Spouse(s) | Bill Hilliker Harry H. Caldwell |
Biography
editKatherine was born in Tacoma, Washington. Her father died when she was young, and she was raised by her stepfather (hence her sometimes being referred to as Katherine Prosser).[2] She attended high school in Savannah, Georgia, before moving to San Francisco to begin a career as a journalist.[2] While working at The Oakland Call, she met her first husband, Douglas "Bill" Hilliker.[2]
Hilliker was a graphic designer who was working in the fledgling motion picture industry, and after the pair married, she took an interest in the medium as well. She went to work as film critic at The New York Morning Telegraph before leaving journalism behind to work as an editor at Universal.[2] She then moved on to work as David O. Selznick publicity chief Vivian Moses's assistant, writing publicity copy on the studio's releases.[2]
By 1916, she was writing and editing films at Select; she later worked at C.L. Chester Pictures Corporation, where she helped put together documentary-style travel shorts. While working at Chester, she met the man who would become her second husband, H.H. Caldwell. She and Clark would work on English titles for foreign releases at Samuel Goldwyn's studio.[2][3] They later worked on titles at Fox (most notably on Sunrise),[4] though their career in Hollywood came to an end with the advent of talkies.[2]
Selected filmography
editAs writer:
- City Girl (1930)
- Christina (1929)
- Black Magic (1929)
- Eternal Love (1929)
- The Rescue (1929)
- The Awakening (1928)
- No Other Woman (1928)
- Four Sons (1928)
- The Gateway of the Moon (1928)
- Mother Machree (1927)
- Sunrise (1927)
- The Loves of Carmen (1927)
- 7th Heaven (1927)
- The Country Beyond (1926)
- The Boob (1926)
- The Devil's Circus (1926)
- Torrent (1926)
- Ben-Hur (1925)
- The Masked Bride (1925)
- The Prairie Wife (1925)
- Welcome Stranger (1924)
- The Right of the Strongest (1924)
- Lost and Found on a South Sea Island (1923)
- The Cave Girl (1921)
- Love's Penalty (1921)
- What Women Love (1920)
- Some More Samoa (1920)
- Cynthia of the Minute (1920)
- Some Speed to Surago (1920)
- Cameraing Through Africa (1919)
As editor:
- City Girl (1930)
- Christina (1929)
- Lucky Star (1929)
- Black Magic (1929)
- The Rescue (1929)
- The Awakening (1928)
- Mother Machree (1927)
- The Loves of Carmen (1927)
- The Prairie Wife (1925)
- Lost and Found on a South Sea Island (1923)
- Love's Penalty (1921)
References
edit- ^ Lewis, Jon; Smoodin, Eric (2007-10-22). Looking Past the Screen. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822338215.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Katharine Hilliker – Women Film Pioneers Project". wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
- ^ Eyman, Scott (2000-11-30). Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise. JHU Press. p. 17. ISBN 9780801865589.
katherine hilliker.
- ^ Eyman, Scott (1997-03-13). The speed of sound: Hollywood and the talkie revolution, 1926-1930. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684811628.
katherine hilliker.
