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Otto Preminger 1905-1986

Austrian-born film director Otto Preminger directed more than 35 feature films during his fifty-year career. The film-noir mysteries Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945) made Preminger one of the top directors in the world. Many of his works dealt with topics then-taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955), rape (Anatomy of a Murder, 1959), and homosexuality (Advise and Consent, 1962). Notorious for his tyranny on the set, Preminger became a widely known celebrity and received two nominations for an Academy Award for Best Director. Preminger is perhaps best-known for directing the award-winning screen adaptation of Leon Uris's epic novel Exodus (1960), about the voyage of Holocaust refugees to Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel. The film was instrumental in introducing Americans to the land of Israel and encouraged American tourism in the country.