Lansing C. Holden

Son of architect Lansing C. Holden, Sr. (1858-1930), Lansing C. Holden Jr. joined the US air service in 1917 and served in France, flying alongside another pilot, Merian C. Cooper, who was later to prove instrumental to his Hollywood career. In 1919 Holden graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, later returning to the university to take graduate courses in Architecture. When his father died, Holden opened his own architecture office in New York. Merian C. Cooper invited him to Hollywood, and after a stint in MGM's art department, Holden was given the chance to co-direct She (1935). On the strength of that picture's impressive visuals, David O. Selznick hired him to oversee all the color elements of The Garden of Allah (1936). Holden's last credit was as director of a short documentary about the Navajo tribe, Pow Wow (1938) before his career was cut short by his death in a plane crash.