Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann was a distinguished and an extraordinary English director. Born as Alfred Zinnemann, he was born to the Jewish couple Oskar and Anna Zinnemann in Poland. Austria-born Fred was interested in becoming a musician from a very young age. But due some valid reasons he was not able to fulfill his dream, and he went to study law and got graduated in the year 1927 at the University of Vienna. While his studies, for the law was ongoing Zinnemann got an interest to enter into movies. So he withdrew from his studies and he relocated to Paris to study cinematography. After that, Fred went to the United States in search of his career. It was not easy for the director when he entered into Hollywood, but he worked hard day and night and finally he got an opportunity to work as an assistant for Eugene Schfftan for his project "Menschen am Sonntag" meaning People on Sunday. Then he went to California for a more stable foundation in his field of work where he worked under the filmmaker Robert Flaherty who was famous for documentaries.

Fred claims Flaherty to have the biggest impact in his life and because of him, Zinnemann got inspired to direct Retes Nets in the year 1935. Later he got invited by the MGM studios to handle the short stories category. From there he won his first Oscar in the year 1938 for the motion picture 'That Mothers Might Live.' It was a short biography about a social issue. Some of his achievements were pictures like 'My Brother Talks to Horses,' 'The Search' which got the legend got two Academy Awards for the Best Story and the movie also won the Best Screenplay award. The story was about how a young boy searches for his mother after the chaos of the World War II. Still, Fred Zinnemann was not well recognised or well received by the audience or the Hollywood industry. His next flick were 'Teresa' and 'The Men' which were released in the year 1951 and both were a sleeper hit.

It was in the year 1952 the movie "High Noon" gave him a position in the list of the top directors in Hollywood. He became a star overnight by this motion picture. He and his cast members were honoured with four Oscars including one for the Best Actor. Unfortunately, Fred just got a nomination for the Best Director. Post High noon he gave his next blockbuster movie From Here to Eternity which broke the record of winning the highest number of awards in a show which was a total of eight Academy Awards including the first Academy for Fred Zinnemann. After he had given back to back successful films, his direction got reduced day by day. In the year 1966, A Man for All Seasons bagged six Academy Awards including the Best Actor. Then came The Day of the Jackal which was later named as Jackal which was another mega-hit picture which won many Golden Globe awards. In 1997, Fred passed away because of a heart attack.