Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann
Zinnemann in the 1940s
Born	Alfred Zinnemann (1907-04-29)April 29, 1907 Rzeszów, Austria-Hungary (now Poland)[1][2]
Died	March 14, 1997(1997-03-14) (aged 89) London, England
Alma mater	École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière
Occupations	Film director producer
Years active	1932–1982
Notable work	High Noon From Here to Eternity Oklahoma! A Man For All Seasons Julia
Spouse	Renee Bartlett ​ (m. 1936)​
Children	Tim Zinnemann
Awards	Academy Award for Best Director 1954 From Here to Eternity 1967 A Man for All Seasons Academy Award for Best Picture 1967 A Man for All Seasons Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film 1952 Benjy

Alfred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an Austrian-American^[1] film director and producer. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir and play adaptations. He began his career in Europe before emigrating to the US, where he specialized in shorts before making 25 feature films during his 50-year career.

He was among the first directors to insist on using authentic locations and for mixing stars with non-professional actors 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."

Among his films were The Search (1948), The Men (1950), High Noon (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Oklahoma! (1955), The Nun's Story (1959), The Sundowners (1960), A Man For All Seasons (1966), The Day of the Jackal (1973), and Julia (1977). His films have received 65 Oscar nominations, winning 24; Zinnemann himself was nominated for ten, and won Best Director for From Here to Eternity (1953), Best Picture and Best Director for A Man for All Seasons (1966), and Best Documentary, Short Subjects for Benjy (1951).

Zinnemann directed and introduced a number of stars in their U.S. film debuts, including Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Pier Angeli, Julie Harris, Brandon deWilde, Montgomery Clift, Shirley Jones and Meryl Streep. He directed 19 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.