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- Michael Curtiz (1886–1962) was a Hungarian-born American film director whose career spanned from 1912 to 1961. During this period he directed, wholly or in part, 181 films. He began his cinematic career in Hungary, then moved to Austria and finally the United States. As his biographer Alan K. Rode notes, "A cinematic pioneer, Curtiz made a seamless transition from hand-cranking cameras in silent films to directing the first sound feature where the characters spoke their parts. He led the way in two- and three-color Technicolor, directed the first motion-picture produced in VistaVision, and worked extensively in CinemaScope." Rode also notes that "he helmed rousing adventures, westerns, musicals, war movies, romances, historical dramas, horror films, tearjerkers, melodramas, comedies, spectacles, and film noirs." Born in Budapest, Curtiz graduated from Hungary's Royal Academy of Theatre and Art in 1906. After six years as a stage actor and director he joined the nascent Hungarian film industry. His first film credit was the 1912 drama, Maés Holnap ("Today and Tomorrow"). In 1913, after directing several films, Curtiz traveled to Denmark to hone his skills as an apprentice for director August Blom. Returning to Hungary, he became a freelance director for several film companies. In 1919, Curtiz immigrated to Vienna and became one of Austria's top film directors. His first film there was Die Dame Mit Dem Schwarzen Handschuh ("The Lady with the Black Gloves", 1919), starring his wife, Lucy Doraine. Among his subsequent Austrian films were the two-part epic Sodom and Gomorrah (1922) and Die Sklavenkönigin ("The Slave Queen", 1924). The latter film was released in the United Kingdom as The Moon of Israel. Harry Warner, one of the founders of Warner Bros., instructed his brother Jack to view the film. After doing so, they were impressed enough to offer Curtiz a contract to direct in the United States. In 1926, Curtiz began his American career with The Third Degree starring Dolores Costello. He followed this with several more films starring her, including the part-talking biblical epic Noah's Ark (1928). In 1932 and 1933, respectively, Curtiz directed the two-color Technicolor horror films Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum, both starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray. In 1935, Curtiz directed the swashbuckling adventure Captain Blood, which made major stars of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. He followed this with several move adventure films starring them, including The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and Dodge City (1939), and Flynn in The Sea Hawk (1940). During this period, Curtiz also made the gangster films, Kid Galahad (1937), starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart, and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Bogart, and the dramatic film Four Daughters (1939), which brought stardom to John Garfield. In 1941, he directed Robinson and Garfield in The Sea Wolf. During the war years (1941–1945), Curtiz directed James Cagney and Joan Crawford into Academy Award winning performances with, respectively, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945). In between these, Curtiz directed his magnum opus, Casablanca (1942), with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Curtiz's only Academy Award for Best Director. In the post-war years, Curtiz directed Life with Father (1947), an adaptation of a popular Broadway play, and the film noir The Unsuspected (1948), his first film by his own production company. For his company, he also produced and directed Romance on the High Seas (1948), a musical which marked the film debut of Doris Day. Curtiz eventually disbanded his company and remained a contract director with Warner Bros. until 1954. Among his later films under his Warners contract was another film noir, The Breaking Point, starring John Garfield. After leaving Warner Bros., Curtiz directed White Christmas (1954) for Paramount Pictures, the first film in VistaVision and the highest-grossing film in his career. Also for Paramount, he directed the Elvis Presley vehicle, King Creole (1958). In 1961, Curtiz directed his final film, The Comancheros, with John Wayne. For his contribution to cinema, Curtiz was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the 1998 and 2007 listings of the American Film Institute's Greatest American Films, Casablanca ranked, respectively, in second and third place, while Yankee Doodle Dandy ranked 100 on the first list and 98 on the second. As of 2018, four films directed by Curtiz have been added to the National Film Registry: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. (en)
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- Michael Curtiz (1886–1962) was a Hungarian-born American film director whose career spanned from 1912 to 1961. During this period he directed, wholly or in part, 181 films. He began his cinematic career in Hungary, then moved to Austria and finally the United States. As his biographer Alan K. Rode notes, "A cinematic pioneer, Curtiz made a seamless transition from hand-cranking cameras in silent films to directing the first sound feature where the characters spoke their parts. He led the way in two- and three-color Technicolor, directed the first motion-picture produced in VistaVision, and worked extensively in CinemaScope." Rode also notes that "he helmed rousing adventures, westerns, musicals, war movies, romances, historical dramas, horror films, tearjerkers, melodramas, comedies, spect (en)
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