Born King Wallis Vidor in Galveston, Texas, he shot local events for national newsreel companies before forming the Hotex Motion Picture Company in Houston in 1914. Moving to Hollywood with his actress wife Florence, he supported himself with a variety of production jobs before settling at Universal as a writer. His first directing work in Hollywood was independently produced. He made a series of ten inspirational shorts in 1918, followed by THE TURN IN THE ROAD (1919), an extremely successful feature with Vidor's Christian Science beliefs as thematic material.
After a series of further successes released through Robertson-Cole and First National between 1919 and 1921, the director founded Vidor Village, a small studio from which he planned to produce independently. The experiment failed, but in the meantime Florence Vidor had become a star, and Vidor directed several films featuring her before beginning work for the Metro and Goldwyn studios in 1922. The merger which created MGM in 1924 also made Vidor a senior director for the company, and his fifth film for the young studio, THE BIG PARADE (1925), was a landmark critical and popular success. THE BIG PARADE was the first serious screen treatment of WW I, and it struck a responsive chord. The film, reportedly one of the most profitable silent films ever produced, made John Gilbert a star, vaulted MGM to front-rank studio status and gave Vidor unheard of creative control.
Vidor's record as a bankable director accounts for the freedom with which he was able to make a series of memorable and humanistic films, most notably DUEL IN THE SUN (1947) and THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1949). He was instrumental in founding the Screen Directors' Guild in 1936 and acted as its first president (1936-38). Alongside John Ford, Frank Capra and Ernst Lubitsch, Vidor was a central figure in 1930s American filmmaking.
In the early 50s Vidor experimented as an independent producer with two films. His last three features were the inconclusive and bloodless MAN WITHOUT A STAR (1955) and the spectacles WAR AND PEACE (1956) and SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959).
Vidor spent his last years producing two short films on metaphysics, lecturing at film schools and retrospectives of his work, and trying to interest producers in various projects, including a film based on his investigation of the 1924 William Desmond Taylor murder case.
Vidor's darkly humanistic vision, accompanied (especially in the 1925-35 period) by a striking and eclectic visual style, made him one of the most influential directors of his time.
Nominated for Directing 1927-8: THE CROWD
Nominated for Directing 1929-30: HALLELUJAH
Nominated for Best Picture 1931-32: THE CHAMP Producer
Nominated for Directing 1931-2: THE CHAMP
Nominated for Directing 1938: THE CITADEL
Nominated for Directing 1956: WAR AND PEACE
Honorary Award 1978: "For his incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator."
5 nominations, 1 Honorary Award