James Whale

James Whale - who was born on July 22nd, 1889, in Dudley, Worcestershire, England - was a theatre director, film director, and actor.  His first directing success was the 1928 play, Journey's End, which led to his move to the U.S.A.  In Hollywood, he directed a dozen films for Universal Pictures between 1931 and 1937, developing a style characterised by the influence of German Expressionism, and also becoming associated with the horror genre, with films such as Frankenstein (1931).  The peak of Whale's career was directing The Road Back (1937), but a series of box-office disappointments followed, and by 1941 his directing career was effectively over.
Very unusually for the 1920s and '30s, Whale was openly homosexual, and it was claimed that his refusal to remain 'in the closet' may have hastened the end of his career.
In the Spring of 1956, Whale suffered a small stroke, and was then hospitalised after a larger stroke occurring a few months later.  While in hospital, he was treated for depression with electric shock treatment.  Suffering from mood swings, and becoming increasingly frustrated that he was becoming dependent on others as his mental faculties diminished, Whale committed suicide by drowning himself in his swimming pool in Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A., on May 29th, 1957, at the age of 67.  Initially thought to have been accidental, Whale's death was only revealed to be suicide in a suppressed suicide note which was not released until the death of Whale's long-term partner, David Lewis, in 1987.