Father of Jerry Thorpe
Thorpe was a favorite at MGM because he always came in under production schedule. He'd often start with a long shot and keep filming until one of the actors fluffed. Then he'd move in a closer setup and shoot until the next hold-up and so on until he finished with just close-ups. He very rarely reshot anything (from Freddie Young's autobiography, "Seventy Light Years").
Uncredited director of the Roman galley scenes in Ben-Hur (1959).