Zoltan Korda | |
---|---|
Born |
Kellner Zoltán June 3, 1895 Pusztatúrpásztó, Túrkeve, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) |
Died | October 13, 1961 Hollywood, California, U.S. |
(aged 66)
Occupation | Film director |
Years active | 1918–1955 |
Spouse(s) | Joan Gardner (1930-1961; his death) |
Zoltan Korda (June 3, 1895 – October 13, 1961) was a Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, director and producer. He made his first film in Hungary in 1918, and worked with his brother Alexander Korda on film-making there and in London. They both moved to the United States in 1940 to Hollywood and the American film industry.
Born Zoltán Kellner (Kellner Zoltán, in Hungarian name order), of Jewish heritage, in Pusztatúrpásztó, Túrkeve, Hungary (then Austria-Hungary), he was the middle brother of Alexander and Vincent Korda, all of whom became filmmakers. Before leaving Hungary to work full-time in London with his brother Alexander, he (Zoltán) served in the Hungarian Army as a cavalry officer.
As a young man, Korda went to work with his brother Alexander in their native Hungary and in the United Kingdom for his London Films production company. He functioned as a camera operator; for a time he worked in film editing and as a screenwriter. In 1918 and 1920 in Hungary, he directed two silent film shorts and a feature-length silent film in Germany in 1927.
In London, he made his English-language directorial debut with the sound drama Men of Tomorrow (1932). He gained wide respect for the adventure film Sanders of the River (1935), starring the American actor Paul Robeson and Leslie Banks. The film proved a significant commercial and critical success, giving Korda the first of his four nominations for "Best Film" at the Venice Film Festival. Korda and Robert Flaherty won the Venice festival's "Best Director" award for Elephant Boy (1937).