Tossup

This director cast a 60-year-old actress to play a male centenarian whose son repeatedly says “have a potato” to guests sheltering in his house from a storm. As depicted in a loose 1998 biopic starring Ian McKellen, this director’s war memories and strokes (15[1])led to his suicide by drowning in his L.A. pool. The title character of a film by this director sings “Nuts in May” while skipping towards the camera. To imply that an in-film explosion broke the theatre’s sound system, this director asked Franz Waxman to end a score with a loud dissonant chord. The “nastiness” of London’s swans inspired Elsa (*) Lanchester’s hissing in half of a dual role in a film by this director. This director’s homosexuality has led to queer theoretical views of his films, such as the bisexual subtext of a character using the word “friend” to refer to both a blind hermit and his frizzy-haired bride. For 10 points, name this director of Universal horror films like The Invisible Man and Frankenstein. ■END■ (10[1])

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