​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Raoul Walsh (March 11, 1887 – December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He was known for portraying John Wilkes Booth in the silent classic Birth of a Nation (1915) and for directing such films as High Sierra (1941) starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart and White Heat (1949) with James Cagney and Edmond O'Brien. His last directorial effort came in 1964. Description above from the Wikipedia article Raoul Walsh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.