​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia He was born as Hugh Ryan Conway, on July 17, 1887, in Graceville, Minnesota, US. Conway started out as an actor, joining a repertory theater group straight out of high school. He then moved into films and, in 1911, became a member of D.W. Griffith's stock company, appearing primarily in westerns. Four years later, he made his mark as a director and gained valuable experience at Universal (1916–17 and 1921–23), before moving on to MGM in 1925. He remained there until 1948, often helming prestige assignments featuring the studio's top male star, Clark Gable: Boom Town (1940), Honky Tonk (1941), The Hucksters (1947) – all solid box office hits. Conway was one of a team of MGM contract directors, who forsook any pretense to a specific individual style in favor of working within the strictures set for...