Alan Smithee

Born: c. 1967

Alan Smithee was 'born' in 1967, the same year he directed his first picture, Death Of A Gunfighter, replacing the original directors, Don Siegel and Robert Totten.

Little is known about Smithee, other than his willingness to be named on projects when Directors' Guild of America members refuse to put their name to the work.

He gained strong reviews for his initial film - the New York Times said Smithee had "an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail", while Variety said his direction "keeps the action taut".

The DGA does not generally permit a director to remove his or her name from the credits, except if the direction was taken out of their hands and the film was re-cut heavily. In such instances, directors can appeal to the Guild; if successful, their name is replaced by Alan Smithee - an anagram of The Alias Men.

Other Smithee credits include the severely edited TV version of Dune, the original theatrical version of which was directed by David Lynch, and Let's Get Harry, directed by Stuart Rosenberg but released with nearly half an hour cut out.

In 1998, Joe Eszterhas wrote Burn, Hollywood, Burn, an insider comedy about a British director named Alan Smithee who wants to remove his name from a film he directed. Ironically, the film was credited to Alan Smithee - because director Arthur Hiller clashed with the screenwriter over the final cut.

The name Alan Smithee has become so well known that producers, screenwriter, editors and even a sound recordist have employed it.

After the release of Burn, Hollywood, Burn, the DGA decided to retire the moniker. As of January 2000, one suggested replacement was Thomas Lee (used for Walter Hill on Supernova). But Arthur Hiller, by now president of the DGA, issued a statement suggesting the world had not seen the last of Mr Smithee...

Film historian Stephen Hock told the Los Angeles Times in March 2002: "Alan Smithee is the secret shame of Hollywood. He's the man Hollywood would prefer we not know about, not talk about and not ask any questions about."

That month, US cable channel American Movie Classics aired the documentary Who Is Alan Smithee?