Otto Preminger facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Otto Preminger
Preminger in 1976, photographed by Allan Warren
Born	Otto Ludwig Preminger (1905-12-05)5 December 1905 Wischnitz, Duchy of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (present-day Vyzhnytsia, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine)
Died	23 April 1986(1986-04-23) (aged 80) New York City, New York, US
Education	University of Vienna
Occupation	Director producer actor
Years active	1924–1979
Spouse(s)	Marion Mill (1903-1972) ​ ​ (m. 1932; div. 1949)​ Mary Gardner (1920-1997) ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1960)​ Hope Bryce (1927-2020) ​ (m. 1971)​
Children	3, including Erik
Relatives	Ingo Preminger (brother)

Otto Ludwig Preminger (pronounced PREM-in-jer; December 5, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an Austrian-American director who made many movies and plays. He also worked as a movie producer and an actor. Over his 50-year career, he directed more than 35 films. He was a very important director in Hollywood, especially in the 1940s and 1950s. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, which are big awards for movies. Two nominations were for Best Director and one for Best Picture.

Preminger first became well-known in the theater in Vienna, Austria. In the mid-1930s, he moved to the United States. He started working as a director for the movie studio 20th Century Fox. He became famous for his mystery movies like Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945).

Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, he made popular movies based on famous books and plays. Some of these movies explored topics that were not usually shown in Hollywood films at the time. This challenged the rules about what could be in movies. Preminger also acted in some movies. One of his most famous roles was playing a German officer in Stalag 17.

Preminger was known for being very demanding. He wanted everything to be perfect on his movie sets. This sometimes led to disagreements with actors. Some people called him "Otto the Monster" because he could be very strict.

Early Life and Education

Otto Preminger was born in 1905 in a town called Wischnitz. This town was then part of Austria-Hungary, but it is now in Ukraine. His family was Jewish. His parents were Josefa and Markus Preminger. Otto had a younger brother named Ingo. Ingo also grew up to work in movies, producing the famous film M*A*S*H (1970).

When Otto was a boy, World War I began. Because of the war, his family had to leave their home. His father found a job in a city called Graz. There, Otto went to a school where he had to learn about Catholicism, even though his family was Jewish. Later, his family moved to Vienna. Otto grew up mostly in Vienna and later said he was born there.

In 1928, Otto Preminger finished his studies. He earned a degree in law from the University of Vienna.

Career Beginnings

Working in the Theater

When Otto Preminger was young, his biggest dream was to be an actor. As a teenager, he could memorize and perform long speeches from famous plays. He loved having an audience. He got so interested in plays that he started missing school.

Even though his father had a successful law business, Otto wanted to work in the theater. In 1923, when Otto was 17, a famous director named Max Reinhardt decided to start a theater company in Vienna. Otto saw this as his big chance. He wrote to Reinhardt many times asking for a chance to perform.

Otto managed to study at the university, which his parents wanted. He also worked as an apprentice for Reinhardt. Reinhardt became like a teacher and guide to him. In 1924, Otto got his first small acting part in a play. He also worked with other actors who later became famous.

After a while, Otto wanted to do more than just small parts. He left Reinhardt's group and started directing plays himself. He directed different kinds of plays.

In 1930, someone offered Otto the chance to direct a movie. It was called Die große Liebe (The Great Love). Even though he loved theater more than movies at the time, he took the job. The movie came out in 1931 and was a success. Between 1931 and 1935, Otto directed 26 plays.

In 1931, he married Marion Mill.

Moving to Hollywood

Preminger (sitting) with (left to right) Liane Haid, Oskar Karlweis, Paul Abraham, Tibor Halmay, and Rosy Barsony in 1934

In April 1935, Preminger met American movie producer Joseph Schenck. Schenck and his partner, Darryl F. Zanuck, were looking for new directors for their movie studio, Twentieth Century-Fox. Preminger quickly accepted an offer to work for them in Los Angeles, the heart of Hollywood.

His first movie for Fox was finished on time and didn't cost too much. However, it wasn't a big hit. Zanuck then gave him a comedy called Danger – Love at Work to direct. Later, in 1937, Zanuck chose Preminger to direct Kidnapped. This was a very expensive movie for Fox at the time. It was based on a book by Robert Louis Stevenson.

However, Preminger and Zanuck had a big argument about a scene in Kidnapped. Zanuck accused Preminger of changing the script. Preminger said he filmed it exactly as written. The argument got so bad that Preminger lost his job. Just two years after arriving in Hollywood, he was out of work in the movie business.

Preminger moved back to New York. He started working in theater again. He became very successful on Broadway, directing popular plays. He even played a Nazi villain in one play called Margin for Error. He also started teaching directing and acting at Yale School of Drama.

In 1941, 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to Margin for Error. The person in charge of Fox, William Goetz, was impressed with Preminger. He offered Preminger a new seven-year contract to work as both a director and an actor. Preminger accepted. He finished making the movie version of Margin for Error on time. Before his next movie for Fox, he also acted as a Nazi character in a Bob Hope comedy called They Got Me Covered.

Preminger started looking for good stories to turn into movies. One of them was a mystery novel called Laura. Before he could make Laura, he directed a smaller movie called Army Wives. This film was about women whose husbands were away at war.

Major Film Successes

The Success of Laura

When Darryl F. Zanuck returned to Fox, he was still upset with Preminger. So, Preminger was only allowed to be the producer of Laura, not the director. Another director, Rouben Mamoulian, was chosen. Mamoulian started changing the script and didn't listen to Preminger.

Preminger agreed with casting Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews in the main roles. However, he didn't like the actor chosen to play the villain. Preminger wanted a stage actor named Clifton Webb for the part. He convinced Zanuck to give Webb a try.

Webb got the role. Mamoulian was fired because he and Preminger had different ideas about the movie. Preminger then took over as director. Laura began filming in April 1944. After Preminger became the director, the movie was finished in late June.

When Laura was released, it was a huge success with both audiences and movie critics. It earned Preminger his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Making More Big Movies

After the success of Laura, Preminger hoped to direct more important films. Zanuck asked him to take over a movie called A Royal Scandal from another director, Ernst Lubitsch, who was ill. Preminger cast actress Tallulah Bankhead, whom he knew from Broadway. They became good friends while making the movie. However, the film wasn't very popular because the story style was old-fashioned.

Next, Preminger directed Fallen Angel (1945). Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell starred in it. After that, Preminger made Centennial Summer (1946). This was his first movie filmed completely in color. It wasn't a huge hit, but by then Preminger was earning a lot of money.

Zanuck wanted to make a movie from a popular book called Forever Amber. Preminger didn't like the book. But Zanuck promised he could make another movie he wanted, Daisy Kenyon, if he directed Forever Amber first. Preminger took over Forever Amber after another director had already started it. The movie faced some criticism for its story, and some changes had to be made. Despite this, Forever Amber made a lot of money when it came out in 1947. Preminger later said it was the most expensive and worst movie he ever made.

Preminger stayed busy. He made Daisy Kenyon (1947) with Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda. This movie was a success, especially with female audiences. He then took over another film, That Lady in Ermine, after director Ernst Lubitsch passed away. His next movie was The Fan (1949), based on a play by Oscar Wilde. It didn't do well.

Challenging Movie Rules

Preminger and author John D. Voelker in the trailer for Anatomy of a Murder

During this time, some of Otto Preminger's movies dealt with topics that were considered controversial. These topics were not usually shown in films. This challenged the rules of the Production Code. This code set guidelines for what could be in movies. He also challenged the Hollywood blacklist, which prevented certain people from working in films.

Starting in the mid-1950s, many of Preminger's films featured cool animated opening titles. These were designed by Saul Bass. The films often had jazz music. He also directed an opera called Der Prozeß on stage. He even turned two operas into movies: Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1959). Carmen Jones set the story of the opera Carmen among African-Americans during wartime.

In the early 1960s, he made Advise & Consent (1962). This was a movie about politics that included a story about a character's private life. He also directed The Cardinal (1963). This was a drama about leaders in the Catholic Church. For this film, he received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Later Years in Filmmaking

Starting in 1965, Preminger tried to make movies with new and different kinds of stories. However, many of these films were not successful with critics or audiences. Examples include In Harm's Way (1965) and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970). One film that did better was Such Good Friends (1971). Its star Dyan Cannon was nominated for a Golden Globe award.

A fun fact is that Preminger once appeared on the Batman TV show as the villain Mr. Freeze!

One of his later movies, Hurry Sundown (1967), was a long drama set in the southern United States. It tried to deal with important issues about race and relationships. However, many people didn't like how it was made. Other films like Skidoo (1968), a comedy, and Rosebud (1975), a thriller, also failed to become hits. Disagreements with actors that became public also hurt Preminger's reputation. His final movie was The Human Factor (1979). It was based on a spy novel by Graham Greene. It had money problems and wasn't widely shown in theaters.

Preminger's Directing Style

As a director and producer, Otto Preminger was known for making movies that explored new ideas. He challenged old rules in Hollywood. He was also very efficient. He usually finished his films on time and without spending too much money. He liked to film long scenes without many cuts. He often showed two actors talking together in one shot instead of cutting back and forth. This style helped save money and also gave him more control over how his movies looked in the end.

However, Preminger was also known for being very strict and demanding on set. He had a strong personality and could get angry easily. Some people called him "Otto the Terrible" or "Otto the Ogre." It's possible that he sometimes acted this way on purpose. This might have been to get attention for his movies or to keep control of the cast and crew.

While he worked well with many famous stars, he sometimes had disagreements. For example, actress Lana Turner quit one of his movies, Anatomy of a Murder. This was because of a disagreement over her costumes. She said she found him too bossy. Famous actor Laurence Olivier, who was in Preminger's movie Bunny Lake Is Missing, called Preminger a "bully." Adam West, who played Batman on TV, also said Preminger could be rude.

Preminger was particularly tough on less experienced actors. He expected everyone to know their lines perfectly. Composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote the music for The Man with the Golden Arm, said Preminger was "a scary character." Actress Linda Darnell had a very difficult time working with him on Forever Amber. He was also very hard on young actress Jean Seberg in her first movies. Actor Tom Tryon, who starred in The Cardinal, also had a very stressful experience working with Preminger.

Film Preservation

The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of Otto Preminger's films. These include The Man With the Golden Arm, The Moon is Blue, The Cardinal and Advise & Consent.

Personal Life

Otto Preminger was married three times. His first wife was Marion Mill. They married in 1931 and later divorced.

He later had a son named Erik. Erik's mother was Gypsy Rose Lee, a performer. Otto and Erik met when Erik was 22 years old.

From 1951 to 1960, Preminger was married to Mary Gardner.

In 1971, he married Hope Bryce. She designed costumes for movies. They stayed married until Otto Preminger passed away. They had two children together, twins named Mark William and Victoria Elizabeth. So, in total, Otto Preminger had three children.

During the 1968 presidential election, Preminger supported Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for president.

Death

The niche of Otto Preminger in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)

Otto Preminger died at his home in New York City in 1986. He was 80 years old. The cause of his death was lung cancer.

He was survived by his wife, Hope, and his three children: Erik, and twins Mark William and Victoria Elizabeth. After his death, Preminger was cremated. His ashes were placed in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

Filmography

Films

Acting Roles

Awards and Nominations

Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. As the producer of the film, he received the nomination. He was twice nominated for Best Director: for Laura and for The Cardinal. He won the Bronze Berlin Bear award for the film Carmen Jones at the 5th Berlin International Film Festival.

See also

In Spanish: Otto Preminger para niños