Micky Moore's life story mirrors the history of film in Hollywood,
encompassing the era of silent films and the digitally enhanced live
action movies of the 21st century. From child actor with "star" credits
at the beginning of a picture to an in-demand second unit director
who helped shape that job role in today's films, he has led a life
both in front of and behind the camera.
With an active career in the motion picture industry that spans
almost nine decades, Micky Moore's life has intersected with some
of the greatest film actors, producers and directors in cinema and
has been a part of the making of many film classics. He tells his
own story in his memoir My Magic Carpet of
Films: A Personal Journey in the Motion Picture Industry 1916-2000
(BearManor Media, 2009).
Born Dennis Michael Sheffield in 1914 in Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada, his first film as an actor, at 18 months of age, was for
the American Film Manufacturing Company's Santa Barbara-based The
Flying A studio in 1916. Later in 1916 he moved with his family
to Los Angeles and what was to become "Hollywood" and starred with
Mary Pickford in Poor Little Rich Girl (1917). Joining
the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1916 he would star in nearly
50 films through 1929, working with some of that era's greatest
names. His career as a child actor spanned the period from the birth
of silent films to the emergence of "talkies."
As a child star he was directed many times by Cecil B. DeMille,
who became his mentor and father figure and played a pivotal role
at key turning points throughout his life.
He continued in the film industry from 1933 until 2000 in various
behind the camera roles ranging from property man to assistant director,
from director to second unit director. Names as varied as Gary Cooper
and Dorothy Lamour, Elvis Presley and Hal Wallis, John Wayne and
Kate Hepburn, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Paul Newman and Robert
Redford, George Cukor and George Roy Hill, John Huston and Sydney
Pollack, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are just a sampling of
the people who are part of his story.
Micky Moore's filmography indicates
that he was involved in nearly 200 productions over his lifetime.
Except for a 2-1/2 year period during The Great Depression, he worked
consistently within the industry on quality films, many which became
film classics, until his "retirement" at the end of 2000.
Believed to have had one of the longest continuous careers in Hollywood, both in front of and behind the camera, Micky died peacefully at his oceanside home in Malibu, California, on March 4, 2013. He was 98. Micky will be greatly missed by his family, friends, film industry colleagues, loyal crew and fans around the world. His contributions to the motion picture industry will live on in the films he worked on and in the future work of the individuals he mentored.
Watch this video tribute to Micky's life and work: