Although born in North Dakota, Francis D. Lyon's film career began in England as an editor on several prestigious J. Arthur Rank productions. Coming to Hollywood, he worked as an editor or supervising editor on numerous films, and won an Academy Award for editing Body and Soul (1947). Turning to directing in 1955, Lyon's output has been mostly routine, although Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), based on a true Civil War incident, was an exciting, well-made adventure. In the 1960s, after churning out several low-grade sci-fi epics, Lyon turned to episodic TV series.
