Biography for
Bernard Vorhaus More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

25 December 1904, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

23 November 2000, London, England, UK (natural causes)

Mini Biography

Born in New York, director Bernard Vorhaus made his name in England during the 1930s and later became a victim of the Hollywood blacklist. His most well-known film was The Last Journey (1936), but his quirky thriller about phony spiritualists, The Amazing Mr. X (1948), has a loyal following. A graduate of Harvard University, Vorhaus gave a young director by the name of David Lean his first job as a film cutter. Lean went on to become an Oscar-winning director known for such intelligent epics such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Lean called Vorhaus the "greatest influence" in his life. After being blacklisted, Vorhaus relocated to England, where he lived with his Welsh-born wife until his death in November 2000.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Luis32789@aol.com

Spouse

Hetty Davies

(1934 - 1997) (her death) 2 children

Trivia

Children: daughter Gwyn, son David.

Graduate of Harvard University.

In 1936 Vorhaus was with a camera crew on the Austrian side of the Zugspitze, a mountain on the Austrian-German border, shooting skiing scenes for Hideout in the Alps (1936). German troops crossed over into Austrian territory, demnanding that the Austrian skiers who were guiding Vorhaus' party be turned over to them, accusing them of being involved in "anti-Nazi activities". The guides quickly turned around and skiied down the mountainside, with the Germans firing at them. A bullet grazed Vorhaus' face but did not injure him. It was the beginning of his own "anti-Nazi activities"--which included working with pro-Communist organizations against the Nazis. That came back to haunt him during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era in the 1950s, when he was classified by the FBI as "prematurely antifascist" which was "proof" of his Communist sympathies, resulting in his being blacklisted in Hollywood.

His was one of the names given to the House Un-American Activities Committee by director Edward Dmytryk in the 1950s. Eventually, the accusation ended his U.S. film career. However, for several films in the '50s and '60s, Vorhaus was credited as an assistant director named Piero Musetta.