McLaglen was born in London, the son of British-American actor Victor McLaglen and his wife, Enid Lamont, who moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s, shortly after his birth. He was from a film family that included eight uncles and an aunt, and he grew up on movie sets with his parents as well as John Wayne and John Ford. After working as an assistant Director on a few smaller films, Ford gave him an assistant Director job on the 1952 film The Quiet Man.
McLaglen and his first wife, Margarita Harrison, had one child: Sharon McLaglen Lannan (born 1944). He and his second wife, Actress Veda Ann Borg, had one child: Andrew Victor McLaglen II (August 3, 1954–January 16, 2006). He and his third wife, Sally Pierce, had two children: Josh and Mary McLaglen.
After several more assistant Director jobs, McLaglen directed his first film, Man in the Vault (1956), which was followed by Gun the Man Down (1956), a western B-movie with James Arness, Angie Dickinson and Harry Carey, Jr. Both were produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions. He went on to work extensively in television directing, prolifically directing episodes of Perry Mason (7), Gunslinger (5), Rawhide (6), and then 116 episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, The Lieutenant (4), The Virginian (2), and 96 episodes of Gunsmoke.
He returned to films, directing Shenandoah (1965) and The Rare Breed (1966), both with James Stewart; the war story The Devil's Brigade (1968) with william Holden, as well as the westerns Bandolero! co-starring Stewart and Dean Martin and Something Big starring Martin.
McLaglen went on to direct Mitchell (1975) with Joe Don Baker and a trio of adventure films, The Wild Geese (1978), North Sea Hijack (1979) and The Sea Wolves (1980), each of which featured Roger Moore. He later specialized in war or action films, his last being Return from the River Kwai (1989). He also worked many times with John Wayne in such films as McLintock! (1963), Hellfighters (1968), The Undefeated (1969), Chisum (1970), and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973).
Andrew V. McLaglen died August 30, 2014, age 94, in Friday Harbor.
