The son of a famous architect, California-born and -educated Malcolm St.Clair worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Express before his first movie job as an extra and gagman at Keystone in 1915. After service in World War I, he returned to the film business, this time as a director alternating between Fox and Mack Sennett. He proved to have a talent for slapstick farce, as well as for elegant domestic comedy, but could also handle action films.
He worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood included Pola Negri (A Woman of the World (1925)), Clara Bow (The Fleet's In (1928)), Joan Crawford (Montana Moon (1930)), and collaborated with Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton in the 1920s.
