Ernst Lubitsch

Ernst Lubitsch (January 29, 1892  November 30, 1947) was a German American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch".

In 1946, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. He was also nominated three times for Best Director.

Early life

Ernst Lubitsch was born on January 29, 1892 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Anna (née Lindenstaedt) and Simon Lubitsch (Russian: Любич), a tailor. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish, his father born in Grodno in the Russian Empire and his mother from Wriezen (Oder), outside Berlin. He turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911, he was a member of Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater.

Career

Weimar years, 1913–21

In 1913, Lubitsch made his film debut as an actor in The Ideal Wife. He gradually abandoned acting to concentrate on directing. He appeared in approximately thirty films as an actor between 1912 and 1920. His last film appearance as an actor was in the 1920 drama Sumurun, opposite Pola Negri and Paul Wegener, which he also directed.

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Ernst Lubitsch’s Classic Comedies

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Of Ernst Lubitsch, the German-born filmmaker who relocated to Hollywood in 1922, Martin Scorsese has said, “Everything in a Lubitsch film counts ... “To this day, Lubitsch remains revered among his peers.”.

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Anyone who has seen Damien Chazelle's Babylonknows that the transition from silent to talking pictures in Hollywood during the late 1920s was an exciting yet daunting era ... ....
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