Hugo Ballin(1879-1956)

American art director, director and producer of silent films, trained in Rome. Began with Goldwyn Pictures in New Jersey in 1917. Many of his films starred his wife, the actress Mabel Ballin. He was also a renowned painter and muralist. His designs include the commemorative medallion for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. He also painted the murals at the Griffith Park Observatory in 1934. Ballin retired from the film industry shortly after the advent of sound.

[on why he stopped being a painter to become a film director] Because even a great painting is seen only by about 60,000 people in a year, and the same number see a good motion picture in one hour.