Michael Curtiz

Michael Curtiz (December 24, 1886 - April 10, 1962) was a film director, whose films include The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, and White Christmas.

Born Manó Kertész Kaminer in Budapest, Hungary, (then Austria-Hungary), he ran away from home at age 17 to join a circus, then trained for an acting career at the Royal Academy for Theater and Art. In 1912 he began his acting and directing career as Mihály Kertész in Hungary (43 films) and, after World War I, continued his work (another 21 titles) first in Vienna, Austria (e.g. with the monumental 1922 silent film Sodom und Gomorrha ) and then in Germany.

In 1926 Curtiz emigrated to the United States. He had a lengthy Hollywood career, racking up directing credit for over 100 films, and not specializing in any one genre. His lifelong struggle with the English language has been confirmed in numerous anecdotes: David Niven, for example, took the title of his memoir Bring on the Empty Horses from a Curtizism for "bring on the horses without riders".

He was married to:

1. Lucy Dorraine ,actress
2. Lili Damita, actress
3. Bess Meredyth , actress/screenwriter

Michael Curtiz is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Select Hollywood filmography

• The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
• Dodge City (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• The Sea Hawk (1940)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• Mildred Pierce (1945)
• Night and Day (1946) (starring Cary Grant as Cole Porter)
• White Christmas (1954) (starring Bing Crosby)
• King Creole (1958) (starring Elvis Presley)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)

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