Contents
I. Alfred Hitchcock 1. Biography. Main Filmography
2. The Shower - Psycho (1960)
3. Crows Attack the Students - Psycho (1960)
II. Joseph Leo Mankiewicz 1. Biography. Main Filmography
2. Cleopatra
3. Elizabeth Taylor and Entrance into Rome Scene
4. Richard Burton
III. George Dewey Cukor 1. Biography. Main Filmography
2. My Fair Lady
IV. Franco Zeffirelli 1. Biography. Main Filmography
2. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
3. Olivia Hussey, Leonard Whiting
4.
1. Alfred Hitchcock
The Birds (1962) Rod Taylor Jessica Tandy 2. Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho (1960) Anthony Perkins Vera Miles 3. Blake Edwards
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard 4. Joseph Leo Mankiewicz
Cleopatra (1963) Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton Rex Harrison 5. Jerome Robbins
West Side Story (1961) Natalie Wood Richard Beymer 6. Terence Young
James Bond films: Dr. No (1962), Sean Connery Guy Hamilton - Goldfinger (1964), Terence Young -
Thunderball (1965) Sean Connery 7. George Dewey Cukor
My Fair Lady (1964) Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison 8. Franco Zeffirelli
Romeo and Juliet (1968) Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey 9. Blake Edwards The Pink Panther (1963)
10. Robert Mulligan To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
11. Edward Dmytryk Where Love Has Gone (1964)
Sir Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most famous film directors of the 20th century. He directed more than 50 feature-length films from the 1920s into the 1970s (Known as the “Master of Suspense”).
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in London. His parents were Emma Jane Hitchcock (neé Whelan), who was known to be stubborn, and William Hitchcock, a grocer, who was known to be stern. Alfred had two older siblings: a brother, William and a sister, Eileen.
When Hitchcock was just five years old, his strict, Catholic father gave him quite a fright. Attempting to teach Hitchcock a valuable lesson, Hitchcock’s father sent him to the local police station with a note. Once the police officer on duty read the note, the officer locked young Hitchcock in a cell for several minutes. The effect was devastating (разрушительный). Although his father was trying to teach him a lesson about what happened to people who did bad things, the experience left Hitchcock shaken to the core. As a result, Hitchcock was forever fearful of the police.
In 1939, Hitchcock moved his family to Hollywood.While the family loved the weather in Southern California, Hitchcock was not fond of it. He continued to wear his dark English suits no matter how hot the weather.
Fearing suspense in real life (Hitchcock didn’t even like driving a car), he did enjoy capturing suspense on screen in memorable scenes. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the all-time great auteur filmmakers. His films can be explained in the simplest of terms: You know it when you see it. Over 55 years, Alfred Hitchcock directed dozens upon dozens of films:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Rebecca (1940), Stage Fright (1950), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Family Plot (1976).
In 1980, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Hitchcock. Three months later Sir Alfred Hitchcock died. His remains were cremated and scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Не had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator. He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount productions in Hollywood. Still in his 20s, he produced first-class MGM films. He directed 20 films in a 26-year period, successfully attempted every kind of movie from Shakespeare adaptation to western.
In 1961, 20th Century Fox was producing
Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and hired Mankiewicz to replace director Reuben Mamoulian.
Cleopatra is a spectacular love story. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome. The film is absolutely beautiful, with some of the most gorgeous sets and images ever. The three main actors are just incredible - Rex Harrison, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor anchor the entire film...
Cleopatra is a character who could be deeply unlikable as she does whatever is necessary to further her agenda, but Taylor always manages to keep your sympathies. And it's easy to forget now just how hot she was back in the day.
For the past 60 years, the film has remained the gold standard of Hollywood excess. The 1963 epic nearly sank Twentieth Century Fox. It took two-and-a-half years to shoot. It burned through two directors. Its budget rocketed from $2 million to a then-unthinkable $44 million. And, most famously, it left the marriages of its two stars — Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor — in ashes.
When filming on Cleopatra began, Taylor was 29 and already on husband number four, Eddie Fisher. Fisher had left his wife, Debbie Reynolds, for the violet-eyed seductress. That may seem like a dramatic description, but Taylor was regarded by many at the time in dramatic terms — as a “homewrecker.” In other words, she was a risky proposition to carry a big-budget Hollywood film like Cleopatra. Another risk in hiring the million-dollar leading lady was her reputation for illness on the sets of her films. During the first part of shooting, in London, Taylor fell ill from “Malta Fever,” bringing production to a grinding halt. Later, in February 1961, Taylor came down with double pneumonia. She was sleeping in an oxygen tent in a London clinic when she slipped into a coma. Some newspapers actually reported that Taylor had died.
Richard Burton was born and brought up in Wales in a poor family to a coal miner. Since his young age, he was interested in acting and doing theater, which made him popular in his school. He dropped out of the school when he was 16 and went to join the Air Training Corps. After his stint with the military service, he took to theater and acting quite seriously and landed roles in English movies and West End productions. His growing popularity took him to Hollywood where he got wonderful opportunities to exhibit his acting talents in many movies, theater, Broadway musicals and on television. His most famous Broadway performance was ‘Hamlet’ which is also the longest running theater in the world until now. He received many Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Award, a Grammy Award and an Emmy nomination for the variety of roles that he played all through his creative career. He was married five times in his life, twice to the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor, with whom his marriage had remained controversial and open to media’s criticism.
His mother passed away when he was 2 years old and he and his other 11 siblings were taken care of by his sister Cecilia and her husband Elfed. Burton studied at a grammar school and was good at English, Welsh and rugby.
He took part in theater at school and did extremely well in it. He dropped out of the school at 16.
Burten worked for the local wartime Co-operative committee and later became a cadet. At the same time he joined the youth drama club where he learnt the fundamentals of acting.
His school teacher adopted him, became his guardian and sent him back to the school. He worked on him and helped him enhance his talents. At 18, he was admitted into Exeter College, Oxford. He went back to serve the military service as an air force cadet, after 6 months at Exeter. After this, for almost 3 years, Burton was in the RAF, serving as a navigator. He could not become a pilot because of his poor eyesight.
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. George Cukor produced films of high quality for 50 years, combining his skill in working with actors, especially actresses, and his careful attention to details.
(His best known works are:
The Philadelphia Story (1940), Gaslight (1944), Adam's Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), A Star Is Born (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), Cukor won the Academy Award for Best Director for My Fair Lady (1964))
Franco Zeffirelli is a celebrated Italian director and producer. Born out of wedlock in early 1920s, initially he was placed with a peasant family, but later his mother took him home. Unfortunately, she died by the time he was six. Thereafter, he was placed with a paternal aunt and grew up under the patronage of some British ladies; who had great
influence on his young mind. He first grew interested in theatre while in school; but made up his mind to seek a career in entertainment. Franco Zeffirelli directed films.
Among his major films were three Shakespeare adaptations: a richly produced The Taming of the Shrew (1967), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor; Romeo and Juliet (1968), in which he for the first time featured teenage actors in the title roles; and Hamlet (1990), with Mel Gibson. His later films included Jane Eyre (1996), Tea with Mussolini (1999), and Callas Forever (2002). He continued to film operas such as I Pagliacci (1981), Cavalleria rusticana (1982), Otello (1986), and La Bohème (2008), often working in myriad roles, including opera director and production and costume designer.
Romeo and Juliet, American film drama, released in 1968, that was an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy of the same name. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, it is often lauded as the best take on the oft-filmed classic.