Henry Koster

Hollywood Stars : Hermann Kosterlitz

Henry Koster, Henry Koster (May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was born Herman Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Kosters father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man. Koster still managed to finish gymnasium (high school) in Berlin while working as short story writer and cartoonist.Early lifeKoster was introduced to cinema about 1910 when his uncle opened a very early movie theater in Berlin. Kosters mother played the piano to accompany the films, leaving the young boy to occupy himself by watching the films. After working initially as a short story writer, Koster was subsequently hired by a Berlin movie company as scenarist, became assistant to director Curtis Bernhardt. Bernhardt became sick one day and asked Koster to take over as director. In about 1931 or 1932, Koster directed two or three films in Berlin for UFA.CareerKoster, who was in the midst of directing a film, had already been the subject of anti-Semitism, and knew he had to leave. He lost his temper at an SA officer at his bank during lunch hour, and knocked the officer out. He went directly to the railroad station and left Germany for France, where he was rehired by Bernhardt (who had left earlier). Eventually Koster went to Budapest and met and married Kato Kiraly in 1934. In Budapest he met Joe Pasternak, who represented Universal in Europe, and directed three films for him.In 1936 Koster got a contract to work with Universal Pictures in Hollywood, and he travelled to the United States to work with Pasternak, other refugees and his wife. Although Koster did not speak English, he convinced the studio to let him make Three Smart Girls, for which he personally coached 14-year-old star Deanna Durbin. This picture, a big success, pulled Universal out of bankruptcy. Kosters second Universal film, One Hundred Men and a Girl, with Durbin and Leopold Stokowski put the studio, Durbin, Pasternak, and Koster on top.Koster discovered Abbott and Costello working at a nightclub in New York. He returned to Hollywood and convinced Universal to hire them. Their first picture, which featured the Whos On First? routine, was One Night in the Tropics. The female lead, Peggy Moran, would become Kosters second wife in 1942. When he married Moran, Koster promised her he would put her in every movie he made from then on. He did, but it was her statue. Usually it is a sculptured head on a mantelpiece or a piano or desk. In The Robe he commissioned a Grecian bust which appears prominently in a Roman villa.Henry Koster went on to do numerous musicals and family comedies during the late 1930s and early 1940s, with Durbin, Betty Grable, and other musical stars of the era. He and Joe Pasternak filmed a successful screen test for Universals newest singing star, Gloria Jean, but Koster would never direct one of her features; when Pasternak left Universal for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in June 1941, Koster went with him. Ironically, despite Kosters escape from Nazi Germany, when the United States entered World War II Koster was considered an enemy alien and had to stay in his house in the evening. Actor Charles Laughton would visit Koster and play chess with him.Kosters postwar career was equally successful. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Bishops Wife (1947). In 1950 he directed what was his biggest success to date, the James Stewart comedy Harvey. He directed Richard Burtons first U.S. film, My Cousin Rachel, and then was given the first CinemaScope film to direct, The Robe in 1952. He directed some more costume dramas, including DГ©sirГ©e (1954) with Marlon Brando, The Virgin Queen (1955) with Bette Davis and The Naked Maja (1958) with Ava Gardner then went back to family comedies and musicals, including Flower Drum Song for Universal in 1961. His last picture was The Singing Nun in 1965. Koster retired to Leisure Village, Camarillo, California, to indulge in his lifelong interest in painting. He did a series of portraits of the movie stars with whom he worked.Although Koster never won an Oscar himself, he directed six different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Cecil Kellaway, Loretta Young, Celeste Holm, Elsa Lanchester, Josephine Hull, James Stewart and Richard Burton. Hull won the Oscar for Harvey.External linksHenry Koster at the Internet Movie DatabaseCineSource Magazine - Henry Koster, A Life in Moviesv В· d В· eFilms directed by Henry Koster1930sThree Smart Girls (1936) В· One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) В· The Rage of Paris (1938) В· Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) В· First Love (1939)1940sSpring Parade (1940) В· It Started with Eve (1941) В· Between Us Girls (1942) В· Music for Millions (1944) В· Two Sisters from Boston (1946) В· The Unfinished Dance (1947) В· The Bishops Wife (1947) В· The Luck of the Irish (1948) В· Come to the Stable (1949) В· The Inspector General (1949)1950sWabash Avenue (1950) В· My Blue Heaven (1950) В· Harvey (1950) В· No Highway in the Sky (1951) В· Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951) В· Elopement (1951) В· Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) В· My Cousin Rachel (1952) В· The Robe (1953) В· DГ©sirГ©e (1954) В· A Man Called Peter (1955) В· The Virgin Queen (1955) В· Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) В· D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) В· The Power and the Prize (1956) В· My Man Godfrey (1957) В· FrГ¤ulein (1958) В· The Naked Maja (1958)1960sThe Story of Ruth (1960) В· Flower Drum Song (1961) В· Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) В· Take Her, Shes Mine (1963) В· Dear Brigitte (1965) В· The Singing Nun (1966)PersondataNameKoster, HenryAlternative namesShort descriptionDate of birthMay 1, 1905Place of birthBerlin, GermanyDate of deathSeptember 21, 1988Place of deathCamarillo, CaliforniaRetrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_KosterCategories: 1905 births | 1988 deaths | German film directors | American film directors | German immigrants to the United States | People from Berlin | German Jews | American people of German-Jewish descentHidden categories: Articles with hCardsPersonal toolsLog in / create accountNamespacesArticleDiscussionVariantsViewsReadView sourceView historyActionsSearchNavigationMain pageContentsFeatured contentCurrent eventsRandom articleDonate to WikipediaInteractionHelpAbout WikipediaCommunity portalRecent changesContact WikipediaToolboxWhat links hereRelated changesUpload fileSpecial pagesPermanent linkCite this pagePrint/exportCreate a bookDownload as PDFPrintable versionLanguagesDeutschEspaГ±olFranГ§aisItalianoNederlandsPolskiPortuguГЄsSuomiSvenska This page was last modified on 1 December 2010 at 15:21.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;additional terms may apply.See Terms of Use for details.Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact usPrivacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersif ( window.mediaWiki ) {mediaWiki.config.set({wgCanonicalNamespace: , wgCanonicalSpecialPageName: false, wgNamespaceNumber: 0, wgPageName: Henry_Koster, wgTitle: Henry Koster, wgAction: view, wgArticleId: 397969, wgIsArticle: true, wgUserName: null, wgUserGroups: [*], wgCurRevisionId: 399933100, wgCategories: [Articles with hCards, 1905 births, 1988 deaths, German film 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