Born in Bloomfield, Iowa. Entered American silent films as an actor in THE RADIO BUG (1926). He continued to appear in front of the camera (often billed as Jerry Drew) until 1935. He also directed some silents: KISS ME KATE, PLUMB GOOFY and MISTER CHUMP (all 1926) and A PERFECT DAY and LISTEN LENA (both 1927) and the Edgar Kennedy comedy short WESTWARD HO-HUM (1941). Most of his career, though, was spent working as an assistant director [THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1936), THE BIG STREET (1942), STEP LIVELY, TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY and HIGHER AND HIGHER (all 1943), DICK TRACY and GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS (both 1945), et al. until 1949] and unit manager/ production manager from 1946 until 1967: CHAMPION and HOME OF THE BRAVE (both 1949), THE MEN and CYRANO DE BERGERAC (both 1950), DEATH OF A SALESMAN (1951), THE SNIPER, HIGH NOON and THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (all 1952), THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T. (1953), several 1954 George Reeves SUPERMAN features, THE PROUD REBEL and THE DEFIANT ONES (both 1958), ON THE BEACH (1959), INHERIT THE WIND (1960), JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961), ITS A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963) and WATERHOLE #3 (1967). Assistant Director 1935: THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER  Nominated for Assistant Director 1936: THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS 2 nominations