Sam Newfield


Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld,, also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with directing over 250 feature films in a career which began during the silent era and ended in 1958. In addition to his staggering feature output, he also directed one -and two-reel comedy shorts, training films, industrial films, TV episodes and pretty much anything anyone would pay him for. Because of this massive output—he would sometimes direct more than 20 films in a single year—he has been called the most prolific director of the sound era.
Many of Newfield's films were made for PRC Pictures. This was a film production company headed by his brother Sigmund Neufeld. The films PRC produced were low-budget productions, the majority being westerns, with an occasional horror film or crime drama.

Family and education

Newfield completed one year of high school, according to the 1940 US census. Brother Morris Neufeld was a stage actor, according to the 1930 US census.

Pseudonyms

Sam Newfield was credited as Sherman Scott and Peter Stewart on a number of films he made for PRC. He used these names in order to hide the fact that one person was responsible for so many of PRC's films.

Partial filmography

A detailed filmography is available at . Partial filmography is listed below for the different names he used.

As Sam Newfield

Between 1923 and 1930 Newfield directed over 50 comedies. Feature films statistics per year, starting with 1933, are summarised in the following table.
1933193419351936193719381939194019411942194319441945
34714171513141319181212
1946194719481949195019511952195319541955195619571958
15352483011311