. Subsequently served an 11-year apprenticeship in the theatre, rising from assistant stage manager for a touring company to Broadway stage manager and director. Directed 10 films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards: He has directed nine films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: His last name means 'sugar' in Hungarian. Production Company was eventually renamed the Cukor-Kondolf Stock Company, and started recruiting up-and-coming theatrical talents. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA. Both Two-Faced Woman and Her Cardboard Lover (1942) were commercial failures. He directed six more Broadway productions until 1929. He spent the next two years preoccupied with the film's pre-production, and with supervising screen tests for actresses seeking to play leading character Scarlett O'Hara. However, his career very quickly slowed down, and the aging Cukor was infrequently involved with new projects.Cukor's most notable film in the 1970s was the fantasy The Blue Bird (1976) , which was the first joint Soviet-American production. The production came to a halt when Cukor had filmed every scene not involving Monroe and the actress remained unavailable. He started as an apprentice director before the studio lent him to Universal Pictures. Cukor and Hepburn became close friends off the set. [12] Lasting only one season with the company was Bette Davis. About. Cukor was als tiener al geïnteresseerd in toneel en spijbelde regelmatig van school om voorstellingen bij te wonen. Info. When it comes to plumbing the depths of one especially ghastly marriage, the remake of Gaslight (directed by George Cukor) is an infinitely richer and more complex piece of work. Heaven knows everyone has limitations. George Cukor was one of the hardest-working directors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She had her own ideas, and though she only did bits and ingenue roles, she didn't hesitate to express them." During later years when I learned more about movie history and the great directors, I was completely taken aback by the fact that after all the great movies Cukor had directed he ended up doing something like "Rich and Famous." From a private letter from journalist Susan Myrick to Margaret Mitchell in February 1939: "George [Cukor] finally told me all about it. When Selznick moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935) for Selznick and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936) for Irving Thalberg. He arrived in Hollywood in February 1929, and his first assignment was to coach the cast of River of Romance to speak with an acceptable Southern accent. George Cukor body measurments, height, weight and age details. . Levy, Emanuel, George Cukor, Master of Elegance. In later years, Cukor suspected his homosexuality impeded him from receiving any advances or honors,[28] although rumors to that effect could not be confirmed.[29]. As the months passed, Cukor was forced to deal not only with constant script changes but a very unstable Garland, who was plagued by chemical and alcohol dependencies, extreme weight fluctuations, and real and imagined illnesses. The Oscar-nominated screenplay (originally titled Man and Wife) for the sparkling, MGM classic (screwball) comedy of the post-war years was way ahead of its time. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". His father wanted him to follow a legal career, and had his son enrolled City College of New York. New York: The H.W. George Cukor is one of the all-time great Hollywood filmmakers. Another project during this period was the ill-fated Something's Got to Give, an updated remake of the comedy My Favorite Wife (1940). Cukor's theatrical troupe included at various times Louis Calhern, Ilka Chase, Bette Davis, Douglass Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Elizabeth Patterson, and Phyllis Povah.Cukor attained great critical acclaim in 1926 for directing "The Great Gatsby", an adaptation of a then-popular novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940). Complete Wiki Biography of George Cukor, which contains net worth and salary earnings in 2021. The family was not particularly religious (pork was a staple on the dinner table), and when he started attending temple as a boy, Cukor learned Hebrew phonetically, with no real understanding of the meaning of the words or what they represented. Cukor’s famously lavish house and garden became the setting for discrete meetings of Californian gays but also a place of loneliness for a man who never seemed to find a long term companion. Interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in the Garden of Honor, unmarked. He filmed the cave scene for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938),[20] and, following the firing of its original director Richard Thorpe, Cukor spent a week on the set of The Wizard of Oz (1939). Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Beverly Grove, Los Angeles, California, USA, The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, These People Directed Influential American Films Noir. Production Company. Rather, they show Selznick's mounting dissatisfaction with Cukor's slow pace and quality of work. and Z. The complete ... and that his wife, Mary, has taken his last name. Nadat hij zijn diploma in 1916 behaalde, spendeerde hij een jaar aan het Students Army Training Corps. [18] He spent the next two years involved with pre-production, including supervision of the numerous screen tests of actresses anxious to portray Scarlett O'Hara. [2] He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. You would like to think you're pretty much an original, everything about yourself distinctive and individual. [34] Then Monroe travelled to New York to appear at a birthday celebration for President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, where she serenaded Kennedy. Cukor suspected that rumors of his homosexuality were the reason he never received the promotion.During the 1940s, Cukor had a number of box-office hits, such "A Woman's Face" (1941) and "Gaslight" (1944). One of Cukor's earlier ingenues was actress Katharine Hepburn, who debuted in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and whose looks and personality left RKO officials at a loss as to how to use her. Although he filmed no footage, he made crucial changes to the look of Dorothy by eliminating Judy Garland's blonde wig and adjusting her makeup and costume, encouraging her to act in a more natural manner. His first solo directorial effort was "Tarnished Lady" (1931), and at that time he earned a weekly salary of $1500. His middle name "Dewey" honored Admiral George Dewey who was considered a war hero for his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay, in 1898.As a child, Cukor received dancing lessons, and soon fell in love with the theater, appearing in several amateur plays. He wanted to gain an officer's commission, but was denied promotion above the rank of private. In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. George Dewey Cukor was born on July 7, 1899. His father worked in the offices of the Manhattan District Attorney. [38], In 1976, Cukor was awarded the George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. I've been sent a script I think is charming and I said, "I think you ought to get an Italian director; it's madness to ask me to do it.". Did a few days work as intermediate director on, He did not make a musical, or fully direct a film in color, until. Pages 163-172. Cukor had declined to direct the earlier film because it was too similar to his own What Price Hollywood? . In 1906, he performed in a recital with David O. Selznick (1902-1965), who would later become a close friend.As a teenager, Cukor often visited the New York Hippodrome, a well-known Manhattan theater. Shopping. Cukor died of a heart attack on January 24, 1983, and was interred in Grave D, Little Garden of Constancy, Garden of Memory (private), Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), California. Stewart Granger was the front runner for a period of time, but he backed out when he was unable to adjust to Cukor's habit of acting out scenes as a form of direction. You can always land on your feet if you know where the ground is. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Dimos I Trade Mark (3) Directed many adaptations of books and plays and was known to be particularly skilled at … Various rumors about the reasons behind his dismissal circulated throughout Hollywood. I don't think you can teach people how to be funny. Of those who did, Cukor preferred Paulette Goddard, but her supposedly illicit relationship with Charlie Chaplin (they were, in fact, secretly married) concerned Selznick.[19]. As a result, he was ambivalent about his faith and dismissive of old world traditions from childhood, and as an adult he embraced Anglophilia to remove himself even further from his roots. Cukor later recalled: "Her talent was apparent, but she did buck at direction. Despite this reputation, during his career, he oversaw more performances honored with the Academy Award for Best Actor than any other director: James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940), Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947), and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964). you direct a couple of successful pictures with women stars, so you become a "woman's director" . . I suppose they call me a woman's director because there were all these movie queens in the old days, and I directed most of them. He left school shortly afterwards. When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself. At the time I knew very little, if anything, about George Cukor. Cukor was buried next to his long-time platonic friend Frances Howard (1903-1976), the wife of legendary studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. Les Girls (1957) won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Wild Is the Wind (also 1957) earned Oscar nominations for Anna Magnani and Anthony Quinn, but neither Heller in Pink Tights nor Let's Make Love (both 1960) were box-office hits. (1932), but the opportunity to direct his first Technicolor film and work with screenwriter Moss Hart and especially Garland appealed to him, and he accepted. Share. He left Paramount in protest, and took a new job with RKO Studios.During the 1930s, Cukor was entrusted with directing films for RKO's leading actresses. This, he had Cukor fired. In December 1952, Cukor was approached by Sid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake of A Star Is Born (1937) with his then-wife Judy Garland in the lead role. In 1942, at the age of 43, Cukor enlisted in the Signal Corps. Though he was replaced as the director of the legendary 1939 film Gone with the Wind, Cukor … [10][11] Following their first season, he made his Broadway directorial debut with Antonia by Hungarian playwright Melchior Lengyel, then returned to Rochester, where C.F. [45], Cukor's friends were of paramount importance to him and he kept his home filled with their photographs. December 13, 2013. (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Our Betters (1933), and Little Women (1933). Working with Irwin Shaw, John Cheever and William Saroyan, among others, Cukor produced training and instructional films for army personnel. He was involved in the production of the classics Gone … Cukor's swan song was "Rich and Famous" (1981), depicting the relationship of two women over a period of several decades., played by co-stars Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, Cukor's final pair of leading ladies.He retired as a director at the age of 82, and died a year later of a heart attack in 1983. Because he lacked an officer's commission, he found it difficult to give orders and directions to his superiors. The close-knit group reputedly included Haines and his partner Jimmie Shields, writer W. Somerset Maugham, director James Vincent, screenwriter Rowland Leigh, costume designers Orry-Kelly and Robert Le Maire, and actors John Darrow, Anderson Lawler, Grady Sutton, Robert Seiter, and Tom Douglas. The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. Regular attendees at his soirées included Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, actor Richard Cromwell, Stanley Holloway, Judy Garland, Gene Tierney, Noël Coward, Cole Porter, director James Whale, costume designer Edith Head, and Norma Shearer, especially after the death of her first husband Irving Thalberg. The public Cukor would no doubt have been horrified at McGilligan’s revelations, but the private Cukor, knowing and sophisticated, might well have appreciated its empathetic candor. His home, redecorated in 1935 by gay actor-turned-interior designer William Haines with gardens designed by Florence Yoch and Lucile Council, was the scene of many gatherings for the industry's homosexuals. In effect he said he is an honest craftsman and he cannot do a job unless he knows it is a good job and he feels the present job is not right. There's been an awful lot of crap written about. The Director and his Stars. Cukor liked leading lady Marilyn Monroe but found it difficult to deal with her erratic work habits, frequent absences from the set, and the constant presence of Monroe's acting coach Paula Strasberg. - IMDb Mini Biography By: This page was last edited on 12 April 2021, at 16:03. He did clean his foreskin well. [40] He was a celebrated bon vivant whose luxurious home was the site of weekly Sunday afternoon parties attended by closeted celebrities and the attractive young men they met in bars and gyms and brought with them. Tap to unmute. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6738 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960. You can make suggestions about how to speak a line or get a laugh, but it has to be in them. [49] Records in probate court indicated his net worth at the time of his death was $2,377,720. Studio documents released after Monroe's death confirmed that her appearance at the political fundraising event was approved by Fox executives. When the last scene finally was filmed in the early morning hours of July 28, 1954, Cukor already had departed the production and was unwinding in Europe. George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. In December 1928, Paramount Pictures signed him to a contract that reimbursed him for his airfare and initially paid him $600 per week with no screen credit during a six-month apprenticeship. [52], Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, "Flawed look at career of blacklisted director", "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement", "Elegant Provocateur in a Puritanical Era", "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks", Cukor bibliography at UC Berkeley Media Resources Center, Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award – Feature Film, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special, Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala Tribute Honorees, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Cukor&oldid=1017410214, American military personnel of World War I, American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent, Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Directed additional scenes after production, Shot some retakes after production completed, Fired in the early stages of production, but a few of his scenes remain in the finished film, Nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Contributed to the film along with four other directors, Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray, The film was abandoned after Monroe's death / 37 minutes of footage survives, Winner of eight Oscars, including Best Picture. 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