George Cukor Biography
Born: July 07, 1899
Died: January 24, 1983
A successful stage director in New York by the late 1920s, George Cukor began working in Hollywood as a dialogue director and filling other uncredited crew roles on such films as All Quiet on the Western Front. In 1930, he co-directed his first features: Grumpy with Cyril_Gardner, The_Virtuous_Sin with Louis_Gasnier, and The Royal Family of Broadway with Gardner; Cukor had his solo debut the following year, directing Tallulah_Bankhead in Tarnished_Lady. For the next fifty years, he showed a flair for bringing out the best in actors, particularly women, although that specialty could occassionally work against him, as when he was removed from the production of Gone With the Wind at the insistence of Clark_Gable. But it defined his best work, starting in 1932 with Katharine_Hepburn's first film, A Bill of Divorcement. Cukor also directed her idiosyncratic '30s performances in Little_Women, Sylvia_Scarlett, and Holiday. In that same decade, he also made the all-star comedies Dinner at Eight and The_Women; the prestigious adaptations David_Copperfield and Romeo and Juliet; and Greta_Garbo's iconic Camille. He made the award-winning dramas Gaslight and A_Double_Life during the '40s, as well as the classic comedies The_Philadelphia_Story and Adam's_Rib. Comedy remained his forte in the '50s with Born_Yesterday and Pat and Mike. One of Cukor's finest films was the 1954 musical A_Star_Is_Born with Judy_Garland and James_Mason (despite its having been cut to ribbons by the studio). Another musical was also his biggest hit of the '60s: My_Fair_Lady. He reunited with Katharine_Hepburn in the '70s for the television films Love Among the Ruins and The_Corn_Is_Green. Cukor died in 1983. Rovi
Great Film Moments:
- In Theaters
- This Week
- Coming Soon
- New on DVD
Browse More Celebrity:
