American film director and producer
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, in the Garden of Honor, unmarked. (Private area. Not accessible to the general public). Frances Goldwyn [Frances Howard ], wife of mogul Samuel Goldwyn , is buried next to Cukor at her request because of her long, but unrequited, love for him.
He was replaced as director of Gone with the Wind because of constant disagreements with producer David O. Selznick over the script and direction (not, as rumor had it, because Clark Gable considered him better suited as a so-called womans director).
Worked as Broadway director before going into the film business with Grumpy (1930) .
He was famous for the parties he threw later in life for large groups of directors, many being attended by such legends such as Alfred Hitchcock , John Ford , Luis Buuel , and George Stevens.
He was famous as a sophisticated, witty personality but was also in the habit (mainly to be naughty) of blurting out unexpected profanities.
Was voted the 18th Greatest Director of all time by "Entertainment Weekly".
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 163-172. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Did a few days work as intermediate director on The Wizard of Oz (although he never actually filmed any scenes) after original director Richard Thorpe had been dismissed. Victor Fleming was eventually hired to direct the picture. Coincidentally, Cukors next film, Gone with the Wind , also went on to be directed by Fleming after Cukor was fired due to disagreements with the films producer, David O. Selznick.
He did not make a musical, or fully direct a film in color, until A Star Is Born .
Directed 20 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Basil Rathbone , Norma Shearer , Greta Garbo , James Stewart , Katharine Hepburn , Ruth Hussey , Ingrid Bergman , Charles Boyer , Angela Lansbury , Ronald Colman , Deborah Kerr , Judy Holliday , James Mason , Judy Garland , Anthony Quinn , Anna Magnani , Rex Harrison , Stanley Holloway , Gladys Cooper and Maggie Smith. Stewart, Bergman, Colman, Holliday, and Harrison won Oscars for their performances in Cukors movies.
In 1968 he accepted the Oscar for best actress in a leading role on behalf of Katharine Hepburn , who wasnt present at the ceremony.
Enjoyed a successful working partnership with Katharine Hepburn , directing her in ten films over a period of 47 years: A Bill of Divorcement (1932) , Little Women , Sylvia Scarlett (1935) , Holiday , The Philadelphia Story , Keeper of the Flame , Adams Rib , Pat and Mike (1952) , Love Among the Ruins , The Corn Is Green .
Godfather of Mia Farrow.
He was largely responsible for the ultimate look of the characters in the film The Wizard of Oz . Richard Thorpe , the films first director, had decided on how the makeup should look, and had made some rather catastrophic decisions (see Buddy Ebsen ). He was eventually fired, and during a stopover at the films set, Cukor gave some directorial suggestions (such as removing Judy Garland s blonde wig), which ultimately were used in the finished film.
He was rather heavy set when he first began directing. In fact, he looked very much like producer David O. Selznick physically. In later years, he lost weight and much of his hair.
Was fired as director of Gone with the Wind only a month before The Women was scheduled to begin filming. Producer Hunt Stromberg enlisted Cukors services immediately upon his sudden availability.
Interviewed in Peter Bogdanovich s "Who the Devil Made It: Conversations With Robert Aldrich , George Cukor , Allan Dwan , Howard Hawks , Alfred Hitchcock , Chuck Jones , Fritz Lang , Joseph H. Lewis , Sidney Lumet , Leo McCarey , Otto Preminger , Don Siegel , Josef von Sternberg , Frank Tashlin , Edgar G. Ulmer , Raoul Walsh." NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Tried unsuccessfully to launch a big movie project starring Maggie Smith as complex and troubled author Virginia Woolf.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 199-201. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1998.
Was the original choice to direct The Seven Year Itch ; however, he turned down the project.
Was original choice to direct Lady L .
Portrayed by Martin Ferrero in Gods and Monsters .
Described by British actor Leslie Phillips as "an absolute shit" in an interview with a local English magazine (in promotion for the film Venus (2006/I) ). He said that Cukor "wouldnt listen to anybody", and that Gene Kelly had come up to him and said, "Look, if you suggest anything he will take your balls off. So you tell me what your ideas are and Ill sell it to him".
For many decades owned a luxurious art deco mansion in the Hollywood hills above Sunset Boulevard, surrounded by Romanesque gardens, which served as the setting for many lavish parties.
With the U.S. Army during World War II, turning out training and propaganda films in New York.
Graduated from DeWitt-Clinton High School, New York City. Subsequently served an 11-year apprenticeship in the theatre, rising from assistant stage manager for a touring company to Broadway stage manager and director.
His father worked in the offices of the Manhattan District Attorney.
Started his career in Hollywood as dialogue director on All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) . Prior to his arrival at MGM, he had brief spells at Paramount (1930-31) and RKO (1932-33). Subsequently under contract at MGM, 1933-37, 1939-44, 1949-50 and 1952-53.
He replaced John Sturges as director of Wild Is the Wind , Charles Vidor as director of Song Without End (although Vidor, who died three weeks into filming, got sole credit), Joseph Strick as director of Justine and Robert Mulligan as director of Rich and Famous . He also directed only one days shooting of Lust for Life in the absence of Vincente Minnelli.
Although he won an Academy Award for My Fair Lady and the film proved to be his biggest-ever box-office hit, he did not make another film for nearly five years after it. During this period he was repeatedly frustrated in his efforts to launch new movie projects. These included: "Bloomer Girl,", a lavish version of the Broadway musical, to star Shirley MacLaine ; "The Nine Tiger Man", a version of the novel by his friend Lesley Blanche; "The Right Honourable Gentleman", a film about Sir Charles Dilke, a politician whose career was ruined by a sex scandal, to star Rex Harrison ; and a melodrama about Victorian spiritualists. None of these ideas ever became films.
In 2013 the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City honored him with a weeks-long comprehensive retrospective of his work, entitled "The Discreet Charm of George Cukor".
According to DeWitt Bodeen in a November 1981 issue of "Films in Review", he only heard Cukor complain about the imperfections of actresses three times: Spring Byington in Little Women , Anouk Aime in Justine , and Gina Lollobrigida in an aborted version of "Lady L.".
The famous Sargent portrait of Ethel Barrymore hung in Cukors home.
Louis Gossett Jr. , on working with Cukor on Travels with My Aunt : "The consummate director and a filmmaking genius. He kept shooting until he got it right. He knew when to say something to you, and he knew when to leave you alone. He was always one step ahead of everyone.".
Portrayed by George Furth in The Scarlett OHara War .
Despite his reputation as a "womens director," three actors (James Stewart , Ronald Colman and Rex Harrison ) won the Best Actor Academy Award for films he was the credited director on while only two actresses (Ingrid Bergman and Judy Holliday ) won Best Actress.
You can always land on your feet if you know where the ground is.
She was unique--a creature born for the screen. She knew when to quit,she just sensed it. She is much too intelligent to want to try to come,back now.
She must never create situations. She must be thrust into them. The,drama comes in how she rides them out.
[on his overlong production of A Star Is Born (1954) ] Neither the,human mind nor the human ass can stand three hours of concentration.
. . [she] played comedy as naturally as a hen lays an egg.
These included the people at Hollywood institutions who had helped to,make and keep her a star. When it was fashionable to rail against the,studio system and the tycoons who had built it, she was always warm in,their defense. She spoke of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a family in which,she was directed and protected, provided with fine stories and just,about every great male star to play opposite; later, she built up a,similar relationship with Warners.
I choose my actors well and get to know the quirks of their personalities - and, most of all, I share humor with them. Then I keep my eyes open when they rehearse and perform, because you never know where the next stimulation comes from.
