MICHAEL CURTIZ
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Date of birth
24 December 1886
Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)
Date of death
10 April 1962
Hollywood, California, USA. (cancer)
Sometimes Credited As:
Michael Courtice / Michael Kertes / Michael Kertész / Mihály Kertész
Birth name
Manó Kertész Kaminer
Nickname
Miska
Spouse
Bess Meredyth (1929 - 10 April 1962) (his death)
Lucy Doraine' (1918 - 1923) (divorced)
Lili Damita' (1925 - 1926) (divorced)
Trivia
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA., in the Whispering Pines section.
Brother of assistant director David Curtiz.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 172-181. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Could be intensely absorbed, to the point of distraction. Once was hurt falling out of a moving car because he wanted to write down an idea. He was driving at the time.
His thick Hungarian accent often made it difficult for cast and crew members to understand his English. Durring the filming of Casablanca (1942), for instance, he asked a set dresser for a "poodle" and later it was discovered than, in fact, he wanted a "poodle" of water!
Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Paul Muni, John Garfield, James Cagney, Walter Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden and William Powell. Cagney and Crawford won Oscars for their performances in one of Curtiz' movies.
Jodie Foster used to own a home that Curtiz built in 1934. The house was originally a guest house on the large estate that he owned. It is copied from small quaint Cotswold cottages found in the midlands in England. In 1995 she put the home up for sale for $1.1 million.
Fought in the Hungarian army during World War I.
Personal quotes
He was known for his trouble with the English language. During filming of The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), he wanted many riderless horses in the background during the final charge. His instructions were, "Bring on the empty horses", later the title of the autobiography of one of the stars of the film, David Niven (I)' .
Another time he was chewing out an assistant for neglecting to do a job assigned to him, and yelled, "The next time I want an idiot to do this, I'll do it myself!"
Mini biography
American director of Hungarian origin, Oscar-winner. He got his diploma at the School for Dramatic Arts in 1906. First he went to Pécs, then Szeged. He made his first film in 1912. The next year he went for stud tour to Denmark to study the newest achievements of the new art in the studios of the then flourishing Nordisk company. Here he worked as assistant and director, acting as the main character in Atlantis (1913). Having returned in 1914 he went to the Jenõ Janovics film factory in Kolozsvár (Cluj). In 1915 he moved back to the capital. In 1916 he worked for the Kinoriport, then he became a director for Phönix until Fall 1918. He shot 38 production in Hungary altogether. In 1919 he filmed the popular poem of Antal Farkas with the title Jön az öcsém (1919). During the Commune he settled down in Vienna. He was one of the most productive and most educated artist in Hungary at the beginning of the era of the silent film.
IMDb mini-biography by
Anonymous
Mini Biography-2
from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
The director of the legendary Casablanca (1942) had almost as prolific a career in his native Hungary and other European countries as he did in Hol lywood. First working in movies as an actor (debuting in 1912), Curtiz helmed approximately 60 films before coming to America (where he made more than 100 movies) in 1926. An efficient craftsman generally disliked by both casts and crews, he was a film "commandant" in the mold of other dictatorial Prussian types such as Otto Preminger and Erich von Stroheim. But Curtiz seemed not to have the artistic ambitions of those masters; he rarely initiated his own projects, doing whatever Warner Bros. (where he spent most of his American career) assigned him. Which isn't to say that he didn't impart his own style to the pictures; an astute practitioner of the German Expressionist tradition in filmmaking, he brought a keen visual sense to his movies right from the beginning of his Hollywood tenure, imbuing routine melodramas such as The Third Degree (1927, his first American film) with eye-popping camera angles and compositions.
When talkies came in, Curtiz worked in a wider number of genres than other directors with more "personal" styles; he did horror films (1932's Doctor X The Mystery of the Wax Museum of 1933, 1936's The Walking Dead crime dramas (Angels With Dirty Faces of 1938), prison pictures (1933's 20,000 Years in Sing Sing whodunits (1935's The Case of the Curious Bride tearjerkers, and domestic dramas (1938's Four Daughters 1939's Daughters Courageous Westerns (1939's Dodge City 1940's Virginia City historical action pictures (1935's Captain Blood 1936's The Charge of the Light Brigade 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood 1940's The Sea Hawk Biblical spectacles (1929's Noah's Ark 1954's The Egyptian war films (1941's Dive Bomber 1942's Captains of the Clouds musicals (1930's Mammy 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy 1943's This Is the Army 1946's Night and Day 1954's White Christmas and straight melodramas (1930's The Mad Genius 1945's Mildred Pierce 1947's The Unsuspected
His superior skills, and the conviction he managed to bring to even the silliest scenarios, made Curtiz more than just a studio hack, and most of his films continue to hold up as models of cinematic storytelling, although "auteur" theorists refuse to take him seriously because his work isn't confined to one genre or imbued with a consistent "worldview." Often a bridesmaid, he earned Oscar nominations for Four Daughters, Angels with Dirty Faces and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Amazingly, Curtiz won his only Oscar for Casablanca a troubled production that had been written off by its cast and chaotically shot with almost daily script revisions. As the studio system of filmmaking waned in the 1950s, so did Curtiz' career. He directed one of Elvis Presley's most credible films, King Creole (1958), and made his cinematic swan song, The Comancheros in 1961.
Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Filmography
Director
1. The Comancheros (1961)
2. Francis of Assisi (1961)
3. A Breath of Scandal (1960)
... aka Olympia (Italy)
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
... aka Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (USA: complete title)
5. The Man in the Net (1959)
6. The Hangman (1959)
7. King Creole (1958)
8. The Proud Rebel (1958)
9. The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
... aka Both Ends of the Candle (UK)
... aka Why Was I Born? (USA)
10. The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
11. The Vagabond King (1956)
12. The Scarlet Hour (1956)
13. We're No Angels (1955)
14. White Christmas (1954)
15. The Egyptian (1954)
16. The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)
17. Trouble Along the Way (1953)
... aka Alma Mater
18. The Jazz Singer (1952)
19. The Story of Will Rogers (1952)
20. I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
21. Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)
... aka Man of Bronze (UK)
22. Force of Arms (1951)
... aka A Girl for Joe (USA: reissue title)
23. The Breaking Point (1950)
24. Bright Leaf (1950)
25. Young Man with a Horn (1950)
... aka Young Man of Music (UK)
... aka Young Man with a Trumpet (Australia)
26. The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949)
27. Flamingo Road (1949)
28. My Dream Is Yours (1949)
29. Romance on the High Seas (1948)
... aka It's Magic (UK)
30. The Unsuspected (1947)
31. Life with Father (1947)
32. Night and Day (1946)
33. Mildred Pierce (1945)
34. Roughly Speaking (1945)
35. Janie (1944)
36. Passage to Marseille (1944)
37. This Is the Army (1943)
38. Mission to Moscow (1943)
39. Casablanca (1942)
40. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
41. Captains of the Clouds (1942)
42. Dive Bomber (1941)
43. The Sea Wolf (1941)
44. Santa Fe Trail (1940)
45. The Sea Hawk (1940)
46. Virginia City (1940)
47. Four Wives (1939)
48. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
... aka Elizabeth and Essex
... aka Elizabeth the Queen (USA: TV title)
49. Daughters Courageous (1939)
... aka A Family Affair
... aka American Family
... aka Family Reunion
50. Sons of Liberty (1939)
51. Dodge City (1939)
52. Blackwell's Island (1939) (uncredited)
53. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
54. Four Daughters (1938)
55. Four's a Crowd (1938)
... aka All Rights Reserved (USA)
56. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
57. Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)
58. The Perfect Specimen (1937)
59. Kid Galahad (1937)
... aka The Battling Bellhop (USA: TV title)
60. Mountain Justice (1937)
61. Marked Woman (1937) (uncredited)
62. Stolen Holiday (1937)
63. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
64. Anthony Adverse (1936) (uncredited)
65. The Walking Dead (1936)
66. Captain Blood (1935)
67. Little Big Shot (1935)
68. Front Page Woman (1935)
69. Black Fury (1935)
70. Go Into Your Dance (1935) (uncredited)
... aka Casino de Paree (UK)
71. The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
72. British Agent (1934)
... aka Brutal Agent
73. The Key (1934)
... aka High Peril (USA: TV title)
74. Jimmy the Gent (1934)
75. Mandalay (1934)
76. From Headquarters (1933) (uncredited)
77. Female (1933)
78. The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
79. Goodbye Again (1933)
80. The Mayor of Hell (1933) (uncredited)
81. Private Detective 62 (1933)
... aka Man Killer (USA: TV title)
82. The Keyhole (1933)
83. Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
... aka Wax Museum
84. 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
85. The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
86. Doctor X (1932)
87. The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932)
... aka Molly Louvain
88. Alias the Doctor (1932)
89. The Woman from Monte Carlo (1932)
90. The Mad Genius (1931)
91. God's Gift to Women (1931)
... aka Too Many Women (UK)
92. Dämon des Meeres (1931)
... aka Demon of the Sea (USA: informal literal English title)
93. River's End (1930)
94. A Soldier's Plaything (1930)
... aka A Soldier's Pay (UK)
95. Bright Lights (1930)
... aka Adventures in Africa (USA: TV title)
96. The Matrimonial Bed (1930)
... aka A Matrimonial Problem (UK)
97. Under a Texas Moon (1930)
98. Mammy (1930)
99. Hearts in Exile (1929)
100. The Gamblers (1929)
101. Madonna of Avenue A (1929)
102. Glad Rag Doll (1929)
103. Noah's Ark (1928)
104. Tenderloin (1928)
105. Good Time Charley (1927)
106. The Desired Woman (1927)
107. A Million Bid (1927)
108. The Third Degree (1926)
109. Goldene Schmetterling, Der (1926)
... aka The Golden Butterfly (USA: literal English title)
... aka The Road to Happiness
110. Fiaker Nr. 13 (1926) (as Michael Kertész)
... aka Cab No. 13
... aka Einspanner No. 13 (Germany: alternative title)
111. Spielzeug von Paris, Das (1925)
... aka Célimène, la poupée de Montmartre (France)
... aka Red Heels
112. Sklavenkönigin, Die (1924) (as Michael Kertész)
... aka Moon of Israel
113. Harun al Raschid (1924) (as Michael Kertész)
114. General Babka (1924)
115. Spiel ums Leben, Ein (1924)
... aka A Deadly Game
116. Namenlos (1923) (as Michael Kertész)
... aka Nameless (USA)
... aka Scharlatan, Der (Austria)
117. Lawine, Die (1923)
... aka Avalanche
118. Junge Medardus, Der (1923) (as Michael Kertész)
... aka Young Medardus
119. Sodom und Gomorrha (1922) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Legende von Sünde und Strafe
... aka Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrah
120. Labyrinth des Grauens (1921)
... aka Labyrinth of Horror
... aka Wege des Schreckens (Austria: informal alternative title)
121. Frau Dorothys Bekenntnis (1921) (as Michael Kertes)
... aka Dorothys Bekenntnis (Germany)
... aka Frau Dorothy's Confession
... aka Mrs. Dane's Confession (USA)
122. Herzogin Satanella (1921)
... aka Duchess Satanella
... aka Satan's Memoirs (USA)
123. Miss Tutti Frutti (1921) (as Michael Kertész)
124. Gottesgeisel, Die (1920)
... aka Stern von Damaskus: 2. Teil: Die Gottesgeisel, Der (Austria)
... aka The Scourge of God
125. Stern von Damaskus, Der (1920)
... aka The Star of Damascus
126. Boccaccio (1920)
... aka Boccaccios Liebesnächte (Austria)
127. Dame mit dem schwarzen Handschuh, Die (1919)
... aka The Lady with the Black Gloves
128. Jön az öcsém (1919) (as Mihály Kertész)
129. Liliom (1919)
130. A Napraforgós hölgy (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Dame mit den Sonnenblumen, Die (Germany)
... aka The Lady with Sunflowers
... aka The Sunflower Woman (International: English title)
131. 99 (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A 99-es számú bérkocsi (Hungary)
... aka Droschke 99
132. Alraune (1918/II) (as Mihály Kertész)
133. A Csúnya fiú (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Ugly Boy (International: English title)
134. Júdás (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
135. Lu, a kokott (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Lu, the Coquette (International: English title)
136. Lulu (1918)
137. Ördög, Az (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Devil (International: English title)
138. A Skorpió I. (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
139. Varázskeringö (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Magic Waltz (International: English title)
... aka Varázskeringo (Hungary)
140. A Víg özvegy (1918) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Merry Widow
141. Árendás zsidó (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Jean the Tenant (International: English title)
142. A Béke útja (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Peace's Road (International: English title)
143. Ezredes, Az (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Colonel
144. A Föld embere (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Earth's Man (International: English title)
145. Halálcsengö (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Halálcsengo (Hungary)
... aka The Fishing Bell (International: English title)
146. Krajcár története, Egy (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A Penny's History (International: English title)
147. A Kuruzsló (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Witchdoctor (International: English title)
148. A Senki fia (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Nobody's Son (International: English title)
149. A Szentjóbi erdö titka (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A Szentjóbi erdo titka (Hungary)
... aka Secret of St. Job Forest (International: English title)
150. Tatárjárás (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Tartar Invasion (International: English title)
151. Tavasz a télben (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Spring in Winter (International: English title)
152. Utolsó hajnal, Az (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Last Dawn (International: English title)
153. A Vörös Sámson (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Red Samson (International: English title)
154. Zoárd mester (1917) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Master Zoard (International: English title)
155. Doktor úr (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Mr. Doctor (International: English title)
156. Ezüst kecske, Az (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A Medikus
... aka The Medic (International: English title)
157. Farkas (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Wolf (International: English title)
158. A Fekete szivárvány (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Black Rainbow (International: English title)
159. A Karthausi (1916)
... aka The Karthauzer (International: English title)
160. A Magyar föld ereje (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Strength of the Fatherland (International: English title)
161. Makkhetes (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Seven of Spades (International: English title)
162. Akit ketten szeretnek (1915) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka One Who Is Loved by Two (International: English title)
163. Aranyásó, Az (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Golddigger (International: English title)
164. Bánk Bán (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
165. Éjszaka rabjai, Az (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Prisoner of the Night (International: English title)
166. A Hercegnö Pongyolaban (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Princess in a Nightrobe (International: English title)
167. A Kölcsönkért csecsemök (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A Kölcsönkért csecsemok (Hungary)
... aka The Borrowed Babies (International: English title)
168. A Tolonc (1914) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Exile (International: English title)
169. Házasodik az uram (1913) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka My Husband's Getting Married (International: English title)
170. Rablélek (1913) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Captive Souls (International: English title)
171. Ma és holnap (1912) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka Today and Tomorrow (International: English title)
172. Utolsó bohém, Az (1912) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka The Last Bohemian (International: English title)
Producer
1. The Scarlet Hour (1956) (producer)
2. Flamingo Road (1949) (executive producer)
3. My Dream Is Yours (1949) (executive producer)
4. Romance on the High Seas (1948) (producer)
... aka It's Magic (UK)
5. The Unsuspected (1947) (producer)
6. Bright Lights (1935) (producer)
... aka Funny Face (UK)
Actor
1. Ezüst kecske, Az (1916) (as Mihály Kertész)
... aka A Medikus
... aka The Medic (International: English title)
2. Akit ketten szeretnek (1915)
... aka One Who Is Loved by Two (International: English title)
3. Éjszaka rabjai, Az (1914)
... aka Prisoner of the Night (International: English title)
4. Atlantis (1913) (as Mihály Kertész)
5. Ma és holnap (1912)
... aka Today and Tomorrow (International: English title)
Writer
1. Drakula halála (1923) (uncredited)
2. Sodom und Gomorrha (1922)
... aka Legende von Sünde und Strafe
... aka Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrah
Costume Designer
1. Samson und Delila (1922)
... aka Samson and Delilah
Himself
1. "Toast of the Town"
... aka The Ed Sullivan Show (new title)
- Episode #7.49 (1954) TV Episode .... Himself
2. "This Is Your Life"
- Danny Thomas (1954) TV Episode .... Himself
3. The Screen Director (1951) (uncredited) .... Himself (staged 'archive' footage)
4. It's a Great Feeling (1949) (uncredited) .... Himself, Cameo Appearance
5. Show Business at War (1943) .... Himself
... aka The March of Time Volume IX, Issue 10