George Ftizmaurice (13 February 1885 - 13 June 1940) was a film director and producer. Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. When he broke into the movie business with the majority of his was as a director, he made a quite a few successful movies such as The Song of the Sheik, Raffles, Mata Hari, and Suzy. However, despite this, he became one of the biggest players in movie history.
George Fitzmaurice came to the States in the mid 1900s, and after working in theater as a set designer began writing for films in 1908. A director by the mid teens, he worked in a range of genres before hitting his stride in the '20s with several handsome romantic dramas: The Cheat with Pola Negri (which he also produced); The Son of the Sheik, Rudolph Valentino's final film; and The Night of Love with Ronald Colman.
His notable films of the '30s include the Colman comedies Raffles (co-directed with Henry D'Arrast) and The Devil to Pay; the Greta Garbo dramas Mata Hari and As You Desire Me; and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney; which the uncredited Fitzmaurice completed after its director Richard Boleslawsky died during production.