Brian G. Hutton, 1935-2014

I have to admit to not recognizing the name Brian G. Hutton, but the actor-rurned-director died the other day at the age of 79.

Hutton started off as an actor in the mid-1950s, with small roles in movies like Fear Strikes Out, the story of baseball player Jimmy Piersall's struggle with mental illness; or the Elvis Presley film King Creole. Hutton moved into directing in the mid-1960s, and is probably best known for the two World War II action films Where Eagles Dare followed by Kelly's Heroes, which both show up from time to time on TCM. Hutton left the moviemaking business after the 1983 Tom Selleck film High Road to China, one of those movies that I remember being promoted back in the day, but don't think I ever saw and don't think ever shows up anywhere. It's amazing, and kind of sad, how many even relatively recent movies that were released by mainstream studios don't show up on TV anymore. High Road to China did get a DVD release at some point, as it's available at the TCM Shop for even more than the Warner Archive movies.