Happy Birthday, Fred Zinnemann! Born today in 1907 as Alfred Zinnemann, this Austrian-born American film director had won four Academy Awards for directing films in various genres.
These included thrillers, westerns, film noir and play adaptations. He made twenty-five feature films during his five decade career.
Among his credits, Zinnemann is best known for directing the 1952 American black and white Western/drama film 'High Noon', the 1953 American black and white drama romance/war film 'From Here to Eternity' and the 1955 American Technicolor musical/drama film 'Oklahoma!'.
Of these, 'From Here to Eternity' won eight Oscars, including Best Picture. This occurred at the 26th Academy Awards in late March 1954.
The film also won Best Writing Adapted Screenplay (Daniel Taradash), Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra) and Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed).
Zinnemann directed and introduced a number of stars in their American film debuts, including Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Pier Angeli, Julie Harris, Brandon deWilde, Montgomery Clift, Shirley Jones and Meryl Streep.
He also directed nineteen actors to Oscar nominations, including Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Audrey Hepburn, Glynis Johns, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Wendy Hiller, Jason Robards, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Gary Cooper and Maximilian Schell.
Zinnemann was among the first directors to insist on using authentic locations and for mixing stars with civilians to give his films more realism.
Within the film industry, he was considered a maverick for taking risks and thereby creating unique films, with many of his stories being dramas about lone and principled individuals tested by tragic events.
According to one historian, Zinnemann's style demonstrated his sense of "psychological realism and his apparent determination to make worthwhile pictures that are nevertheless highly entertaining."
In 1989, 'High Noon' was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first twenty-five films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
n 2002, 'From Here to Eternity' was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2007, 'Oklahoma!' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Zinnemann had been active from 1932–1982.
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