- Born
- Died
- Birth nameManó Kaminer
- Nickname
- Miska
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- 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>
- Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-born (as Mihaly Kertesz) American director who turned out some of the best-regarded films ever to come out of Hollywood. He received his diploma from the School for Dramatic Arts in Hungary in 1906. He then went to live in Pécs, then Szeged. He began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. The next year he went to Denmark to study the newest achievements of film art in the studios of the then flourishing Nordisk company. Here he worked as assistant and director and acted as the main character in Atlantis (1913). Returning to Hungary in 1914, he worked for Jenö Janovics's production company in Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoca, Romania). In 1915 he returned to Budapest and the next year worked for Kinoriport, then as a director for Phönix until late 1918. He shot a total of 38 films in Hungary. He was one of the most productive and educated artists in Hungary at the beginning of the silent film era. In 1919 he shot Jön az öcsém (1919), based on a popular poem by Hungarian poet Antal Farkas. Hungary entered a period of political instability known as the Commune, and Curtiz settled down in Vienna, Austria. After World War I--during which he fought in the Hungarian army--he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany, and in the early 1920s he began directing films in other European countries. Curtiz moved to the US in 1926 and began making films for US studios, mainly Warner Brothers, where he spent most of his career and where he directed such classic films as Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dodge City (1939) and Mildred Pierce (1945), among many others.- IMDb mini biography by: A. Nonymous
- SpousesBess Meredyth(December 7, 1929 - April 10, 1962) (his death)Lili Damita(1925 - 1926) (divorced)Lucy Doraine(1915 - 1923) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenKitty Curtiz-Eberson
- RelativesDezsõ Kertész(Sibling)
- 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 five 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". David Niven used one of Curtiz' best-known slip-ups as the title of his memoir: "Bring On the Empty Horses". NOTE: A number of Curtiz' other misstatements were mistakenly attributed to producer Samuel Goldwyn, who was also famous for verbal slips.
- His father, brother and sisters died in Auschwitz. Only his mother came to the US, thanks to Jack L. Warner, who helped him.
- Credited with discovering Doris Day, whom he heard sing at a Hollywood party. At the time he was about to direct Romance on the High Seas (1948) and was seeking a singer/actress to replace Betty Hutton, who had become pregnant and had to back out of the film.
- Directed ten 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 two of Curtiz' movies.
- [on the set of The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), attempting to explain that he wanted a lot of riderless horses in the background of the climactic charge] Bring on the empty horses. NOTE: David Niven, who was in the cast of the film and heard about the remark, later used it as the title for his autobiography.
- [chewing out an assistant for not doing an assigned task] The next time I want an idiot to do this, I'll do it myself! NOTE: This is often wrongly attributed to Samuel Goldwyn).
- [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.
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