Norman Foster was born Norman Foster Hoeffer on December 13, 1903, in
Richmond, Indiana. He became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in
Indiana before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies. He tried a number of theatrical agencies before getting stage work including
The Barker (1927, New York; 1928, London) in which he appeared opposite future wife
Claudette Colbert. He later appeared on
Broadway in the
George S. Kaufman/
Ring Lardner play
June Moon in 1929. He began working in crowd scenes in films before moving to bigger parts. Foster wrote several plays. He gave up acting in the late 1930s to pursue directing, although he occasionally appeared in movies and television programs. Foster directed a number of
Charlie Chan and
Mr. Moto mysteries, including
Charlie Chan in Panama (1940),
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939),
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939),
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939), ''
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939), Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938), Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), and Think Fast, Mr. Moto'' (1937). He co-wrote and directed the "My Friend Bonito" segment of
Orson Welles's unfinished Pan-American anthology film ''
It's All True'' (1941). Initially engaged as a second-unit director who would film background material, Foster came to do much more and the quality of his work would have been recognized with a co-director credit on the film. A co-production of
RKO Pictures and the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the non-commercial project was later terminated by RKO. Some of Foster's other directorial efforts include
Kiss the Blood off My Hands (1948),
Rachel and the Stranger (1948),
Woman on the Run (1950) and
The Sign of Zorro (1958). He directed the
Davy Crockett segments of the
Walt Disney anthology television series Disneyland that were edited into the feature films
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955) and
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956). Foster's second verse of his lyrics to Disney's
Zorro theme song which was "He is polite, but the wicked take flight, when they catch the sight of Zorro. He's friend of the weak, and the poor, and the meek, this very unique Senor Zorro." never aired on the television series. This version of the
Zorro Theme including these verses was performed by
The Chordettes. These verses later appeared in the
Disney Sing-Along Songs version of the
Zorro Theme in its 1987 direct-to-video episode, "Heigh-Ho". ==Personal life==