Vincent Sherman was last surviving studio-era contract directors in Hollywood.
Born Abraham Orovitz, he graduated from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta in 1925 and planned to become a lawyer. But in 1927, while working as a newspaper police reporter in Atlanta and studying law at night, he and a former classmate wrote a play and decided to move to New York City to do theater. When they failed to sell their play, Sherman began looking for work as an actor.

Renamed Vincent Sherman by a receptionist at a talent agency, he began landing small roles in Theater Guild productions. During the summers, he worked as a social director at a camp in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, where he acted in and directed dramatic and musical shows.

In 1932, Sherman was hired for a role as a young communist in the Chicago company of Elmer Rice's play "Counsellor-at-Law."

A year later, he was brought out to Hollywood to re-create the role in director William Wyler's film version, starring John Barrymore. Sherman stayed in Hollywood six months, playing small gangster parts in a few films before returning to New York, where he appeared in and directed numerous plays, including playing a role in Clifford Odets' "Waiting For Lefty." He also continued to write his own plays.

In 1937, a part in the road company of Sidney Kingsley's "Dead End" brought Sherman back to Los Angeles, where he met Bryan Foy, head of the B-picture unit at Warner Bros., who hired him to write films.
Sherman began his directing career at Warner Bros. in 1939 with the low-budget "The Return of Dr. X," with Humphrey Bogart.
Film credits include: "All Through the Night" (1942), starring Bogart; "The Hard Way" (1942) starring Ida Lupino and Jack Carson; "Mr. Skeffington" (1944), starring Davis and Claude Rains; "The New Adventures of Don Juan" (1948), starring Errol Flynn; "Goodbye, My Fancy" (1951), starring Joan Crawford; "Lone Star" with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner (1952), and "An Affair in Trinidad" (1952) with Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford.

During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, Sherman was "gray listed" in Hollywood for a number of years, but eventually returned to Warner Bros. to direct several more pictures including "The Young Philadelphians" (1959) with Paul Newman, "Ice Palace" (1960) with Richard Burton. In the 1960s, after the demise of the studio system, he turned to directing for television.After turning to television directing, he worked on numerous series such as "Medical Center," "Baretta," "The Waltons" and "Trapper John M.D."

He also directed such TV movies as "The Last Hurrah" (1977) starring Carroll O'Connor; "Women at West Point" (1979); "Bogie: The Last Hero" (1980) and "The Love Goddess" based on the life of Rita Hayworth (1983), as well as the syndicated miniseries "The Dream Merchants" (1980) with Mark Harmon and Morgan Brittany.