Category Archives: Actors
Fred Zinnemann: Oscar Actors Director
Fred Zinnemann began his career during the studio era, but kept on going, however sporadically, long after most of his contemporaries had retired. Even so, today his name means little to most moviegoers and critics alike. But why? Quite possibly because, like William Wyler, Zinnemann covered just about every film genre there is. His relatively small oeuvre — 21 narrative feature films — encompasses the [...]
George Cukor: Womens Director?
Known as a refined “women’s director,” George Cukor has had his considerable output either relegated to the sidelines or simply dismissed by those who like their directors macho and their films male-centered. Not helping matters is the general perception that Cukor was merely a hired hand for the likes of David O. Selznick at RKO and Louis B. Mayer at MGM, instead of an auteur [...]
Elia Kazan: Oscar Actors Director
Dorothy McGuire, Gregory Peck, Gentleman’s Agreement Elia Kazan is best remembered today for two things: his association with Marlon Brando during the first half of the 1950s, and the fact that he claimed to be unrepentant about naming names — and ruining careers and lives — during the Red-baiting hysteria of the post-World War II years. Kazan’s 19 feature films as a director are wildly [...]
William Wyler: Oscar Actors Director
William Wyler was one of the greatest film directors Hollywood — or any other film industry — has ever produced. Today, Wyler lacks the following of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Frank Capra, or even Howard Hawks most likely because, unlike Hitchcock, Ford, or Capra (and to a lesser extent Hawks), Wyler never focused on a particular genre, while his films were hardly as male-centered as [...]