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Anatole Litvak
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE (3 June 1902 – 15 December 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-American filmmaker.
Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, he began his theatrical training at age 13 in St. Petersburg, where he lived through the end of the Russian Revolution. He began his film directing career in Germany and France, before moving to the United States in the late 1930s.
Litvak was notable for directing little-known foreign actors to early fame and is believed to have contributed to several actors winning Academy Awards. In 1936 he directed Mayerling, a film which made French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux international stars. He returned Swedish star Ingrid Bergman to popularity with American audiences in 1956 with Anastasia, in which she won her second Oscar. He directed Olivia de Havilland to an Academy Award nomination for The Snake Pit (1948). He directed Jean Gabin in his screen debut and directed Elia Kazan in his earliest acting role, City for Conquest.
Litvak directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, starring Edward G. Robinson, which used actual newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Litvak was among the few directors who tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.
During World War II, he enlisted and co-directed documentaries with Frank Capra, including Why We Fight films. On his own he directed The Battle of Russia (1943), which won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French, he supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force. He was promoted to full colonel by the end of the war for his volunteer wartime efforts. He received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States.
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak was born in Kiev into a Ukrainian Jewish family from Berdychiv and Bila Tserkva. His surname means "Lithuanian" in Yiddish. The family moved to St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, when Litvak was still a child. As a teenager, he worked at a theater and took acting lessons at the state drama school, and later graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University.
Litvak remained there through the Russian Revolution, and began his filmmaking career at Nordkino Studios, where he was assistant director and a production designer for nine silent films during the 1920s. For political and ideological reasons, and especially because Russian theaters were nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s, he left Russia for Berlin, Germany in 1925. There he would have more artistic possibilities.
Litvak's first film as director was the musical Dolly Gets Ahead (1930) with Dolly Haas. He followed it with two Lilian Harvey films, No More Love (1931) and Calais-Dover (1931).
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Anatole Litvak
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE (3 June 1902 – 15 December 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-American filmmaker.
Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, he began his theatrical training at age 13 in St. Petersburg, where he lived through the end of the Russian Revolution. He began his film directing career in Germany and France, before moving to the United States in the late 1930s.
Litvak was notable for directing little-known foreign actors to early fame and is believed to have contributed to several actors winning Academy Awards. In 1936 he directed Mayerling, a film which made French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux international stars. He returned Swedish star Ingrid Bergman to popularity with American audiences in 1956 with Anastasia, in which she won her second Oscar. He directed Olivia de Havilland to an Academy Award nomination for The Snake Pit (1948). He directed Jean Gabin in his screen debut and directed Elia Kazan in his earliest acting role, City for Conquest.
Litvak directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, starring Edward G. Robinson, which used actual newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Litvak was among the few directors who tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.
During World War II, he enlisted and co-directed documentaries with Frank Capra, including Why We Fight films. On his own he directed The Battle of Russia (1943), which won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French, he supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force. He was promoted to full colonel by the end of the war for his volunteer wartime efforts. He received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States.
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak was born in Kiev into a Ukrainian Jewish family from Berdychiv and Bila Tserkva. His surname means "Lithuanian" in Yiddish. The family moved to St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, when Litvak was still a child. As a teenager, he worked at a theater and took acting lessons at the state drama school, and later graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University.
Litvak remained there through the Russian Revolution, and began his filmmaking career at Nordkino Studios, where he was assistant director and a production designer for nine silent films during the 1920s. For political and ideological reasons, and especially because Russian theaters were nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s, he left Russia for Berlin, Germany in 1925. There he would have more artistic possibilities.
Litvak's first film as director was the musical Dolly Gets Ahead (1930) with Dolly Haas. He followed it with two Lilian Harvey films, No More Love (1931) and Calais-Dover (1931).
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