Child actor Born in
Detroit, Quine's father was an actor. Quine's family moved to
Los Angeles when he was six years old. As a child, he began working as a radio actor and became a minor radio star. He then appeared in
vaudeville before moving on to stage roles. Quine made his film debut in the drama
Cavalcade (1933). He could also be seen in
The World Changes (1933) (alongside a young
Mickey Rooney),
Counsellor-at-Law (1933),
Jane Eyre (1934, as John Reed),
Dames (1934), ''
Wednesday's Child (1934) with Frankie Thomas, Little Men (1934), Life Returns (1935), A Dog of Flanders (1935) with Thomas, and Dinky'' (1935) with
Jackie Cooper.
New York Quine left
Los Angeles for New York City to return to stage acting. In 1939, Quine made his
Broadway debut in the
Jerome Kern/
Oscar Hammerstein II stage musical
Very Warm for May in 1939, which ran for 59 performances. The following year, he was cast as Frank Lippincott in the Broadway production of
My Sister Eileen starring
Shirley Booth which was a hit.
MGM actor His role in the stage version of
My Sister Eileen led to Quine's being signed with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Quine's first film for MGM was
Babes on Broadway (1941), starring
Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Rooney and Quine had been friends since childhood. Just as his acting career seemed about to take off, he had to serve in the
United States Coast Guard. While in the Coast Guard, he became a lieutenant and served in public relations department in San Diego, California. Reportedly
Harry Cohn offered to buy the script outright but they wanted to direct. Cohn responded: "How the hell do you think you can make a picture?" But then later another Columbia executive told Quine, "Mr. Cohn tells me you're going to direct a picture." He was still under contract to MGM when the film was made. The film was successful and Quine was hired to a long-term contract at Columbia. Quine continued to act for a while. He was third billed in
The Clay Pigeon (1949), a low budget noir directed by
Richard Fleischer and written by
Carl Foreman at
RKO. He had support roles in
No Sad Songs for Me (1950) and
Rookie Fireman (1950), both at Columbia. At Columbia he directed some comedy shorts:
A Slip and a Miss (1950) with
Hugh Herbert,
Foy Meets Girl (1950) with
Eddie Foy, Jr,
The Awful Sleuth with
Bert Wheeler, and
Woo-Woo Blues (1951) with Herbert. In July 1951 he signed a seven-year contract with Columbia to direct. Quine's first solo effort as director was the musical comedy
The Sunny Side of the Street (1951) starring
Frankie Laine. He followed it with
Purple Heart Diary (1951) with
Frances Langford. Without Edwards, Quine directed episodes of
Footlights Theater,
General Electric Theater, and
The Ford Television Theatre. Quine directed the film noir
Pushover (1954) that launched
Kim Novak as a star.
Universal-International borrowed him to direct
Tony Curtis in a musical,
So This Is Paris (1954). Quine helped Edwards write the film that became Edwards' first feature as director,
Bring Your Smile Along (1955) with Laine. Edwards and Quine wrote the script for a musical remake of
My Sister Eileen (1955), which Quine directed, and
He Laughed Last (1956), which Edwards directed. Quine Productions' first film was
Strangers When We Meet (1960) with Kirk Douglas, Novak and Kovaks; the film was co-produced with Douglas' film production company,
Bryna Productions.
Ray Stark hired him at the last minute to replace
Jean Negulesco on
The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with
William Holden and
Nancy Kwan at
Paramount. Back at Columbia Quine did the narration for
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960) with Lemmon. Quine announced he would do several projects for his own company:
The Image Makers with
Glenn Ford,
Roar Like a Dove with Doris Day, and
The Fannie Brice Story for Ray Stark. He was also going to do
Man Hunt in Kenya with William Holden. None of these films were made. He produced and directed Lemmon,
Fred Astaire and Novak in
The Notorious Landlady (1962), co written by Edwards. He was going to make
A Bolt Out of the Blue and
Fair Game with Holden and direct
Sherlock Holmes on Broadway. None of these projects happened. Quine directed and produced
Paris When It Sizzles (1964) with Holden and
Audrey Hepburn, done for his own company via Paramount. He went to
Warner Bros. to direct
Sex and the Single Girl (1964) with Curtis and
Natalie Wood, then did
How to Murder Your Wife (1965) with Lemmon (as a co-production between Quine Productions and Lemmon's
Jalem Productions). Quine produced and directed
Synanon (1965) for Columbia, a little seen film about addicts. He returned to TV producing and directing episodes of the short-lived
The Jean Arthur Show (1966). That series also lasted one season. Instead he did two films for Paramount, ''
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967) for Ray Stark, and A Talent for Loving (1969). He was also meant to film The Owl and the Pussycat'' but
Herbert Ross ended up doing it, with
Barbra Streisand and
George Segal.
Lyricist In addition to producing, directing and screenwriting, Quine was a lyricist. He wrote the lyrics for "Be Prepared," a song included in the film
It Happened to Jane (1959), which he also produced and directed. In 1962, Quine wrote two songs, "Going Steady With a Dream" and "Strangers When We Meet," the latter the theme to the 1960 film of the same name, which Quine directed, and also for the film ''
Don't Knock the Twist. Quine also wrote the theme song to his 1964 film Sex and the Single Girl''.
1970s Quine returned to acting with a role in the movie
Original: Do Not Project (1972). In the 1970s, Quine directed
The Moonshine War (1970) at
MGM and a pilot for a show based on
Catch-22 starring
Richard Dreyfuss. He directed three episodes of
Peter Falk's
Columbo, including "Dagger of the Mind," an episode set in Britain. He also worked on another, much less successful
NBC Mystery Movie series,
McCoy, reuniting him with star
Tony Curtis, whom Quine had directed in
So This Is Paris and
Sex and the Single Girl (1964). Quine's other directorial credits include
W (1974) with
Twiggy, and
The Specialists (1975), and episodes of
Hec Ramsey,
McCloud and
Project U.F.O.. His final completed film as a director was the film
The Prisoner of Zenda (1979) starring
Peter Sellers. Quine was hired to direct another Sellers film,
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980). Before the script was even completed, Quine was fired owing to "creative differences" with Sellers. ==Personal life==