Biography for
Michael Curtiz More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

24 December 1886, Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)

Date of Death

10 April 1962, Hollywood, California, USA (cancer)

Birth Name

Manó Kertész Kaminer

Nickname

Miska

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner Bros. and became thoroughly entrenched in the studio system. His films during the 1930s and '40s encompassed nearly every genre imaginable and some, including Casablanca (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945), are considered to be film classics. His brilliance waned in the 1950s when he made a number of mediocre films for studios other than Warner. He directed his last film in 1961, a year before his death at 74.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Doug Sederberg <vornoff@sonic.net>

Mini Biography

American director of Hungarian origin, Oscar-winner. He received his diploma from the School for Dramatic Arts in 1906. He then went to live in Pécs, then Szeged. He made his first film in 1912. The next year he went on a study 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 Jenö Janovics film production company in Kolozsvár (Cluj). In 1915, he moved back to the capital. In 1916 he worked for Kinoriport, then as a director for Phönix until late 1918. He shot a total of 38 films in Hungary. In 1919, he filmed the popular poem by 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 artists in Hungary at the beginning of the silent film era.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse

Bess Meredyth	(7 December 1929 - 10 April 1962) (his death) 1 child
Lili Damita	(1925 - 1926) (divorced)
Lucy Doraine	(1918 - 1923) (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 adopted son, John Meredyth Lucas, said he spoke 5 languages, all of them badly. His thick Hungarian accent often made it difficult for cast and crew to understand him when he spoke English. During the filming of Casablanca (1942), for instance, he asked a set dresser for a "poodle", and when the dresser brought him a small poodle dog, Curtiz exploded at the man--he had meant that he wanted a "poodle" of water. On the set of The Cabin in the Cotton (1932), Curtiz made a speech to the actors on how he wanted them to act like "woodpeckers" when the script described them as "peckerwoods". A number of Curtiz' other misstatements were mistakenly attributed to producer Samuel Goldwyn, who was also famous for verbal slips.

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.

He had one son, John Meredyth Lucas, whom he adopted in 1929 when the boy was ten years old.

His two most fruitful collaborations with stars were with Errol Flynn (they did 12 films together) and Humphrey Bogart (they did 8 films together).

Was assigned to direct Adventures of Don Juan (1948), in 1947, however Errol Flynn had a falling-out with him.

After directing Elvis Presley in King Creole (1958) Curtiz was set to direct Presley's first post-Army film, G.I. Blues (1960) but for unknown reasons the film was eventually directed by Norman Taurog. Hal B. Wallis produced both of these films.

After Nunnally Johnson bowed out, 20th Century Fox started negotiations with Curtiz to direct the Elvis Presley film Flaming Star (1960), but the job was later taken by Don Siegel. Curtiz had previously directed Presley in King Creole (1958) and was originally set to direct him again in G.I. Blues (1960).

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.

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!" (This quote is often misattributed to Samuel Goldwyn.)

His grasp of the English language made him the subject of many long standing Hollywood anecdotes. He once berated David Niven on set declaring: "You think you know f*ck everything and I know f*ck nothing. Well let me tell you, I know f*ck all!!"

[on Randolph Scott] Randy Scott is a complete anachronism. He's a gentleman. And so far he's the only one I've met in this business full of self-promoting sons-of-bitches.

[on learning that Joan Crawford had been offered the title role in Mildred Pierce (1945)] She comes over here with her high-hat airs and her goddamn shoulder pads. Why should I waste time directing a has-been?

[on Cary Grant] Some actors squeeze a line to death. Cary tickles it into life.