Biography
Willard van Dyke was an important figure in the development of the American documentary. Before becoming a filmmaker, van Dyke was a bank clerk, an insurance salesman, and an X-ray technician. He made a name for himself as a still photographer after an apprenticeship with noted photographer Edward Weston. With him, Ansel Adams, and Imogen Cunningham, van Dyke founded the famed "f.64 group" in 1932. In 1937, he helped shoot footage for
Pare Lorentz's seminal documentary
The River (1937). He next teamed with Ralph Steiner to found American Documentary Films Inc. With Steiner, van Dyke made the exquisite documentary
The City (1939) for the New York World's Fair. Other important van Dyke documentaries include Valley Town (1940), The Children Must Learn, and
Skyscraper (1958), a film made to commemorate the founding of the United Nations. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide