He worked with his nephew-in-law, producer Nicholas Nayfack, on Forbidden Planet (1956) and was planning to direct a big-budget MGM sequel, to be titled "Robot Planet", when Nayfack died unexpectedly in 1958.
Brother-in-law of Nicholas Schenck, President of MGM.
He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Lassie Come Home (1943) and Forbidden Planet (1956).