H.C. Potter (born November 13, 1904, New York City, New York, U.S.—died August 31, 1977, Southampton, New York) was an American film and stage director who was best known for his comedies, notably The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
After studying in Yale University’s drama department, Potter helped found (1927) the Hampton Players, a summer theatre group in Long Island, New York. In 1929 he directed Button, Button, his first Broadway production, and he staged several other plays before turning to films. His first feature was Beloved Enemy (1936), a drama starring Merle Oberon as an Englishwoman in love with an Irish rebellion leader (played by Brian Aherne). After the lacklustre Wings over Honolulu (1937) and Romance in the Dark (1938), Potter was given The Cowboy and the Lady (1938), a project with a better pedigree. Leo McCarey cowrote the story, and stars Gary Cooper and Oberon gave convincing portrayals of a rodeo cowboy and the socialite who falls for him. Even better was The Shopworn Angel (1938), with Margaret Sullavan playing a sophisticated Broadway actress who marries a shy young soldier (James Stewart) on the eve of World War I and then waits to see if he will survive combat; Walter Pidgeon was notable in a supporting role.
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
In 1939 Potter directed The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, which was the last of RKO’s enormously popular Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers musicals; it was based on the world-famous dance team. Potter next made Blackmail (1939), a B-film starring Edward G. Robinson as a man wrongly convicted of a crime who escapes from prison and tries to start over. Congo Maisie (1940) was the second entry in Ann Sothern’s long-running series about a showgirl. Potter reunited with Astaire for Second Chorus (1940), but the musical failed to match the popularity of their earlier effort.
Potter had more success with Hellzapoppin’ (1941), a colourful restaging of the Broadway farce, with Shemp Howard, Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, and Martha Raye. His credits from 1943 were the patriotic documentary Victory Through Air Power, a Walt Disney production that he codirected, and Mr. Lucky, with Cary Grant as a gambler who reconsiders his scheme to bilk a war relief fund after meeting a wealthy heiress (Laraine Day). The hugely popular crime comedy was highlighted by Grant’s use of Cockney slang. Potter then returned to Broadway in 1944–45 to direct A Bell for Adano, an acclaimed adaptation of John Hersey’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel; he also oversaw the later London production.
In 1947 Potter returned to the big screen with The Farmer’s Daughter, which became one of his biggest hits. Loretta Young, in an Academy Award-winning performance, starred as a Swedish American housekeeper who decides to run for Congress against her employer (Joseph Cotten), even though she happens to love him; Charles Bickford was Oscar-nominated for his performance as a sympathetic butler. After the strained romantic comedy A Likely Story (1947), Potter had another box-office hit with Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Grant and Myrna Loy, in their third screen pairing, were cast as a New York City couple who encounter the frustrations of home ownership after buying a dilapidated house in Connecticut.
Potter’s last pictures were less memorable. The Time of Your Life (1948) was a stolid adaptation of the William Saroyan play, starring James Cagney and William Bendix, and The Miniver Story (1950; codirected with Victor Saville) was a predictable sequel to William Wyler’s hit Mrs. Miniver (1942), with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their roles. After directing the Broadway productions of Point of No Return (1951–52) and Sabrina Fair (1953–54), Potter made his final film, Top Secret Affair (1957), with Kirk Douglas and Susan Hayward.