Career
He began his career as an actor under director Sidney Olcott at Kalem Studios in 1913 and directed his first film for the company two years later. During the silent-era Horne specialized in staging thrill scenes for features and serials. On the strength of Horne"s work in Cruise of the Jasper B, Buster Keaton hired him to direct his 1927 comedy College.
From there he moved to Hal Roach Studios, where he worked with Roach"s leading stars, Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase and Our Gang.
Horne"s Laurel and Hardy comedies Big Business (credited to "J Wesley Horne") and Way Out West are acclaimed as classics. Horne also displayed an aptitude for directing Roach"s foreign-language versions.
The American version might be staged by James Parrott, for example, but the international version would be entrusted to Horne. Horne left Roach in 1932 during an economic downturn that eliminated many jobs.
He was hired by Universal Pictures where, for the next few years, he directed the studio"s now-obscure two-reel comedies.
When Universal suspended production, Horne worked briefly at Columbia Pictures and returned to Roach in 1935. James West. Horne died on June 29, 1942, of a cerebral hemorrhage following a stroke. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.