| 68th | Top Hungarian Americans |
| 3rd | Top directorial debuts |
| Alexander Korda | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Sándor László Kellner 16 September 1893 Pusztatúrpásztó, Hungary (Austria-Hungary) |
| Died | 23 January 1956 (aged 62) London, England |
| Occupation | Director/Producer |
| Years active | 1914–1955 |
| Spouse(s) | María Corda (1919-1930) Merle Oberon (1939-1945) Alexandra Boycun (1953-1956) |
Sir Alexander Korda (16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956) was a Hungarian-born British film director and producer. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.
The elder brother of future filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent Korda, Korda was born as Sándor László Kellner to a Jewish family[1] in Pusztatúrpásztó in Hungary (Austria-Hungary), where he worked as a journalist (supporting the Hungarian Soviet Republic) before going into films as a producer. He also worked in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Hollywood, becoming director of United Artists. He worked closely with many artists on his films, including his Hungarian friend, painter and set designer Emile Lahner.
The first film Korda made in the United States, in 1927, was titled The Stolen Bride. By 1932 he made 16 more films in the U.S. The last one, Service for Ladies, was made in 1931 and released in 1932 after Korda had already relocated to London. In 1936 he took out British citizenship.
In 1932 he founded London Films, soon to build Denham Film Studios, financed by Prudential, which eventually became a part of the Rank Organisation. His films included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Rembrandt (1936), both of which starred Charles Laughton. Other successes were The Four Feathers (1939), Q Planes (1939), The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and The Third Man (1949). The Red Shoes was also originally meant to be a Korda film and vehicle for his future wife Merle Oberon. It became a J. Arthur Rank film and was eventually made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger instead, starring Moira Shearer.
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Korda was married three times, first to Hungarian actress María Corda in 1919. They had one son, Peter Vincent Korda, and divorced in 1930. In 1939, he married film star Merle Oberon, but the marriage ended in divorce six years later. He married, lastly, on 8 June 1953, Alexandra Boycun, who survived him.
Michael Korda, the author of a roman à clef about Merle Oberon published after her death entitled Queenie, is Alexander Korda's nephew via his younger brother Vincent.
In 1942, Alexander Korda became the first film director ever to be knighted. Korda was awarded a knighthood on 5 June 1942 for services to the film industry by King George VI.
Korda was also an important contributor to the 1936 Moyne Commission formed to protect British film production from competition, mainly from the United States. Korda said: "If American interests obtained control of British production companies they may make British pictures here but the pictures made would be just as American as those made in Hollywood. We are now on the verge of forming a British school of film making in this country."[2]
He died at the age of 62 in London of a heart attack and was cremated. His ashes are at Golders Green Crematorium in London.
The Alexander Korda Award for "Outstanding British Film of the Year" is given in his honor by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
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