Henry Koster May 1 1905 September 21 1988 born Hermann Kosterlitz was a Germanborn film director who worked in Europe as well as in Hollywood Although he never won an Oscar Koster directed six different actors in Oscarnominated performances In 1932 Koster directed his first film in Berlin the comedy Thea Roland In the midst of directing his second film Das häßliche Mädchen Jewish Koster had been the subject of antisemitism and knew he had to leave the country He left Germany for France where he was rehired by director Curtis Bernhardt who had also fled Eventually Koster went to Budapest where he met and married Kató Király in 1934 There he also met Joe Pasternak who represented Universal in Europe and directed three films for him Through his friend Gabriel Levy he ended up directing Dutch sound film De Kribbebijter released internationally as The CrossPatch which proved a success both in the Netherlands where it played in cinemas for no less than seven years and in the UK Soon after Koster signed a deal with Universal Pictures in Hollywood and moved to the United States Although Koster did not speak English he convinced the studio to let him make Three Smart Girls for which he personally coached tobe star Deanna Durbin This picture a big success pulled Universal out of bankruptcy Kosters second Universal film One Hundred Men and a Girl also was successful After this Koster discovered Abbott and Costello at a nightclub in New York He returned to Hollywood and convinced Universal to hire them Their first picture was One Night in the Tropics the female lead Peggy Moran became Kosters second wife in 1942 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 Nonetheless Kosters postwar career proved equally successful He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Bishops Wife 1947 In 1950 he directed his biggest success the James Stewart comedy Harvey He directed Richard Burtons first US film My Cousin Rachel and then in 1953 he was given The Robe the first CinemaScope film His last picture was The Singing Nun in 1965 Koster retired to Leisure Village in Camarillo California where he painted a series of portraits of the movie stars with whom he worked
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