Category: Oscar Profile

Born July 6, 1925, Lester Persky was an independent film producer who either co-financed or co-produced more than 30 films, many of them high profile successes, primarily between 1968 and 1979. The Harvey Weinstein of the 1970s, information on him remains as fragmented as his credits, which were parsed between The Devon Company, The Claridge…

Born February 17, 1904 in Brooklyn, New York, Milton Krasner entered the film industry as an assistant cameraman in 1917 at the age of 13. While working at the Vitagraph and Biograph studios in New York City, he was promoted to camera operator. He became a cinematographer in 1933. Krasner’s first film of note as…

Born November 4, 1913 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Byron Barr (screen name Gig Young) was raised in Washington, D.C. and Waynesville, South Carolina. Having developed a passion for theatre, he won a scholarship to the famed Pasadena Playhouse. While appearing in a play in Mexico, he and fellow actor George Reeves were spotted by a…

Born February 26, 1922 in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, England, Margaret Leighton was the daughter of a businessman who made her acting debut at the Old Vic in 1938’s Laugh with Me which was also televised that year. She made her Broadway debut in 1946 in five touring plays starring Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, beginning…

Born December 5, 1890 in Vienna, Austria, Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, Fritz for short, was one of the most influential film directors of all time yet won no major awards, possibly due to his reputation as a tyrant on film sets. Although trained in Paris in 1913-14 to be a painter, Lang returned to Vienna…

Born November 5, 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois where his US Army officer father was stationed, Samuel Shepard Rogers, known professionally as Sam Shepard, spent his childhood moving from base to base around the US until the family settled in Duarte, California. He became interested in acting and writing while in high school, while at…

Born August 12, 1912 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Samuel Fuller was one of seven siblings, whose life was as interesting as any of the many characters of his long career. One of the best writer-directors never to be nominated for an Oscar, his films which were mostly overlooked during his lifetime, have gained in stature since…

Born October 5, 1923 in Pretoria, South Africa while her Welsh parents were on tour, Glynis Johns was the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns (1899-1992) and pianist Alice Maude Steele (1901-1970). A trained dancer, pianist and singer as well as actress, Johns made her first stage appearance as a child ballerina in London’s Garrick Theatre…

Born May 10, 1888 in Vienna, Austria, Max(well) Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, either composing, arranging, or conducting, when he was fifteen. He wrote and conducted the operetta, The Beautiful Greek Girl which led to opportunities to conduct other shows in…

Born May 18, 1912 in Philadelphia, PA to Russian Jewish immigrants Hyman and Esther Sax, Reuben Sax known professionally as Richard Brooks, grew up poor. He studied journalism at Temple University for two years from 1929-1931 before discovering that his parents were going into debt to pay for his education at which time he quit…

Born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana to homemaker Rebecca and professional boxer turned pharmacist David Pollack, Sydney Pollack grew up in South Bend, Indiana. His parents divorced when he was very young. His mother, who suffered from alcoholism and depression, died at the age of 37 when he was still in high school. Upon…

Born July 9, 1900 in Los Angeles, California, Joseph LaShelle was trained as an electrical engineer, but went to work at Paramount as a lab technician in order earn money for tuition at Stanford University. Promoted to superintendent of the printing room within three years, he decided to forego his college education and stay on…

Born December 8, 1949 to an executive at a voting machine plant and his wife, an interior designer, Nancy Meyers is an American director, producer and screenwriter. At the age of 12, Meyers became interested in the theatre after reading Moss Hart’s autobiography, Act One. Upon graduating college, she spent a year working in public…

Born December 8, 1930 in Vienna, Austria, but raised in Zurich, Switzerland where his family fled after Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, Maximilian Schell was perhaps the most famous of all non-English speaking born actors in Hollywood history. He was the second child of an actress mother and poet father. He and his…

Born January 25, 1901 in Baltimore, Maryland, Mildred Dunnock was a schoolteacher who did not start acting until she was past 30. Once she began to act, however, her rise was swift and her career meteoric although she never rose above the ranks of character actress, albeit a superb one. Dunnock’s first Broadway role was…