Irving Rapper, 101, the onetime stage actor and director who went on to direct Hollywood's "Now, Voyager" and more than 20 other films, died Dec. 20 in Los Angeles, according to Reuters. Mr. Rapper appeared on Broadway as an actor in Crime (1927) and was a stage director before heading west.
Born in London in 1898, he came to the United States when he was eight and, as a student at New York University, joined the Washington Square Players -- which produced non-commercial works and Chekhov, O'Neill and Shaw -- as a director.
He moved to Hollywood and became an assistant director and dialogue coach and would later gain a reputation as director of pictures that had a stagy, talky quality -- the acting work was clearly guided by someone who knew how to work with actors.
-- By Kenneth Jones
