Today is the Birth Anniversary of FRED ZINNERMANN (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) Austro-American Film Director. He won Academy Awards for directing films in many genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir, and play adaptations. Nineteen actors appearing in Zinnemanns films received Academy Award nominations for their performances: among that number are Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Glynis Johns, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Wendy Hiller, Jason Robards, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Gary Cooper and Maximilian Schell. Zinnemann was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, the son of Anna and Oskar Zinnemann, a doctor. His family was Jewish. While growing up in Austria, he wanted to become a musician, but went on to study law. While studying at the University of Vienna, he became drawn to films and eventually became a cameraman. He worked in Germany with several other beginners (Billy Wilder and Robert Siodmak also worked with him on the 1929 feature People on Sunday) before going to America to study film. Zinnemanns penchant for realism and authenticity is evident in his first feature The Wave (1935), shot on location in Mexico with mostly non-professional actors recruited among the locals, which is one of the earliest examples of realism in narrative film. Earlier in the decade, in fact, Zinnemann had worked with documentarian Robert Flaherty, an association he considered the most important event of my professional life. Zinnemann is often regarded as striking a blow against ageism in Hollywood. The story (which may be apocryphal) goes that, in the 1980s, during a meeting with a young Hollywood executive, Zinnemann was surprised to find the executive didnt know who he was, despite having won four Academy Awards, and directing many of Hollywoods biggest films. When the young executive callowly asked Zinnemann to list what he had done in his career, Zinnemann delivered an elegant comeback by reportedly answering, Sure. You first. In Hollywood, the story is known as You First, and is often alluded to when veteran creators find that upstarts are unfamiliar with their work. Zinnemann insisted, Ive been trying to disown that story for years. It seems to me Billy Wilder told it to me about himself. Zinnemann died of a heart attack in London, England on March 14, 1997. He was 89 years old. His wife died on December 18,1997. Zinnemanns films are all dramas of lone and principled individuals tested by tragic events, including From Here to Eternity (1953); The Nuns Story (1959); A Man For All Seasons (1966); and Julia (1977). Regarded as a consummate craftsman, Zinnemann traditionally endowed his work with meticulous attention to detail, an intuitive gift for casting and a preoccupation with the moral dilemmas of his characters. RIP FRED ZINNERMANN.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 01:50:06 +0000
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