Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger (born December 5, 1905 in Wiznitz , Bukowina , Austria-Hungary ; † April 23, 1986 in New York City , United States ) was an Austrian - American film director , film producer , actor , theater director and theater director .
Life
Otto Preminger was born the son of the assimilated Jews Markus and Josefa Preminger. The father worked as a public prosecutor . During the First World War , Markus Preminger and his family moved to Graz to avoid an invasion by the tsarist army and a life under Russian occupation. He finally got to Vienna via Graz. Preminger studied at the University of Vienna Law and graduated in 1928 with a doctorate. In addition to his studies, he devoted himself to acting, appeared in small roles under Max Reinhardt at the Theater in der Josefstadt and was his assistant in Salzburg . He played larger roles at the Deutsches Theater in Prague, among others . In 1925 he directed in Aussig an der Elbe for the first time. In 1929 he and Jakob Feldhammer took over the management of the Volksoper as the "Neues Wiener Schauspielhaus" (until July 15, 1931). In 1931 he returned to the Theater in der Josefstadt as a director and was director there from 1933 to 1935.
In 1931 Preminger made his first film, The Great Love , which made him famous after his successful theater productions in Hollywood and New York. In October 1935 he went to the USA, where he shot numerous movies and also worked as an actor in several films. However, he also remained loyal to the theater, until the 1960s he worked as a theater director in New York. Preminger was one of the most versatile directors in Hollywood; he made comedies, crime films, westerns and literary adaptations. When he arbitrarily changed the script for the filming of Robert Louis Stevensons Kidnapped , he was fired. He did not return to Hollywood until 1942. In 1944 Preminger's thriller Laura caused a sensation. Although this masterpiece of film noir met with rejection in the studio, the film was very well received by the public and the press.
In 1953 Preminger founded his own production company and thus no longer had to take Hollywood's self-censorship into account. In 1955 he took up a taboo subject when he shot The Man with the Golden Arm , the portrait of a drug addict in the slums of Chicago . Not least, his film Anatomy of a Murder (1959) contributed to the fact that the internal censorship was circumvented more and more often and finally abandoned. Preminger also made the first film with all black actors: Carmen Jones (1954) based on Georges Bizet's opera Carmen . But Preminger was not only known for "shocking" topics. His subtle and precise leadership of the actors earned him great recognition. A central work in Preminger's oeuvre is the film Bonjour Tristesse (1958) based on the novel of the same name by Françoise Sagan . It was celebrated with anthemic reviews and was a role model for the later directors of the French Nouvelle Vague .
In 1977 Preminger published his autobiography . From 1983 onwards, suffering from Alzheimer's and cancer , he lived in seclusion in Hollywood. His son Erik Lee Preminger also works as a director and film producer, his brother was the acting agent and film producer Ingo Preminger .
Otto Preminger died in 1986 at the age of 80. His final resting place is in Woodlawn Cemetery in the New York borough of Bronx .
Filmography (selection)
- 1931: The great love
- 1938: Kidnapped (Kidnapped)
- 1942: The Pied Piper - cast member
- 1943: Margin for Error - director / actor
- 1943: They Got Me Covered - cast members
- 1944: In the Meantime, Darling - Director / Producer
- 1944: Laura (Laura) - Director / Production
- 1945: Scandal at court ( A Royal Scandal ) (brought to an end after Ernst Lubitsch's illness)
- 1945: Murder on their Wedding Night (Fallen Angel) - Director / Production
- 1946: Centennial Summer - Director / Producer
- 1947: Amber, the great courtesan (Forever Amber)
- 1947: Daisy Kenyon - director / producer
- 1949: Lady Windermeres Fächer (The Fan) - Director / Production
- 1949: Frau am Abgrund (Whirlpool) - direction / production
- 1950: Faustrecht der Großstadt (Where The Sidewalk Ends) - Director / Production
- 1951: The 13th Letter - Direction / Production
- 1952: Angel Face (Angel Face)
- 1953: Stalag 17 (Stalag 17) (Actor)
- 1953: Clouds Are Everywhere (The Moon Is Blue) - Director / Producer
- 1953: The Virgin on the Roof (German version of The Moon Is Blue )
- 1954: River of No Return (River of No Return)
- 1954: Carmen Jones - director / producer
- 1955: The Man with the Golden Arm (The Man with the Golden Arm) - Director / Producer
- 1955: Damned Silence (The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell)
- 1957: Saint Joan (Saint Joan) - director / producer
- 1958: Bonjour Tristesse (Bonjour tristesse) - Director / Production
- 1959: Porgy and Bess (Porgy and Bess)
- 1959: Anatomy of a Murder (Anatomy of a Murder) - Director / Producer
- 1960: Exodus (Exodus) - Director / Production
- 1961: Storm over Washington (Advise and Consent) - Director / Production
- 1963: The Cardinal (The Cardinal) - Director / Producer
- 1964: First Victory (In Harm's Way) - Director / Producer
- 1965: Bunny Lake Is Missing - Director / Producer
- 1967: Tomorrow is a new day (Hurry Sundown) - Director / Producer
- 1968: Skidoo (Skidoo) - Director / Production
- 1970: Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon - Director / Producer
- 1971: So good friends (Such Good Friends) - Director / Producer
- 1975: Rosebud (Rosebud) - Director / Producer
- 1979: The Human Factor (The Human Factor) - Director / Producer
Awards
Republic of Austria:
- 4th December 1935: Knight's Cross of the Austrian Order of Merit
Locarno International Film Festival
- 1955: Prize for Carmen Jones
- Star on the Walk of Fame: 6624 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2008 Otto-Preminger-Straße in Vienna- Landstraße (3rd district) was named after him.
Retrospective
- Retrospective "Otto Preminger" as part of the Berlin International Film Festival 1999
literature
- Giulia Carluccio, Linda Cena: Otto Preminger . Nuova Italia, Firenze 1990, OCLC 24409124 (Italian).
- Willi Frischauer: Behind the Scenes of Otto Preminger: An Unauthorized Biography . Joseph, London 1973, ISBN 978-0-7181-1170-0 (English).
- Chris Fujiwara: The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger . Faber and Faber, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-571-22370-1 (English).
- Norbert Grob, Rolf Aurich, Wolfgang Jacobsen: Otto Preminger . Jovis, Berlin 1999, ISBN 978-3-931321-59-8 .
- Foster Hirsch: Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-375-41373-5 (English).
- Wolfgang Jacobsen: Preminger, Otto Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 693 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Gérard Legrand, Jacques Lourcelles, Michel Mardore: Otto Preminger . Cinémathèque Française, Paris 1993, ISBN 978-2-87340-089-7 (French).
- Jacques Lourcelles: Otto Preminger . Seghers, Paris 1965, OCLC 2910388 (French).
- Gerald Pratley: The Cinema of Otto Preminger . AS Barnes & Co, New York 1971, ISBN 978-0-498-07860-6 (English).
- Otto Preminger: Preminger: An Autobiography . Doubleday, Garden City, NY 1977, ISBN 978-0-385-03480-7 (English).
- Uwe Harten : Preminger, Otto. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3046-5 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Otto Preminger in the catalog of the German National Library
- Otto Preminger in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Entry about Preminger, Otto Ludwig in the Austria-Forum (biography)
- Filmmaker Otto Preminger - The Art of Controversy Portrait
- Otto Preminger Institute
- Otto Preminger in the archive of the Austrian Media Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Otto Preminger
- ↑ cf. Decoration office number 17.226 / 2144 from 1935
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Preminger, Otto |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Preminger, Otto Ludwig (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian-American film director, film producer, actor, theater director and theater director |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 5, 1905 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Wiznitz , Bukowina , Austria-Hungary |
DATE OF DEATH | April 23, 1986 |
Place of death | New York City , New York , United States |