page_title: Michael Curtiz
section_title: 1950s
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Curtiz / Career in the US / 1950s
caption_attribution_description: English: Elvis Presley and Dolores Hart from the trailer for the film King Creole, 1958
context_page_description: Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-born American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed classic films from the silent era and numerous others during
  Hollywood's Golden Age, when the studio system was prevalent.
  Curtiz was already a well-known director in Europe when Warner Bros. invited him to Hollywood in 1926, when he was 39 years of age. He had already directed 64 films in Europe, and soon helped Warner Bros. become the fastest-growing movie studio. He directed 102 films during his Hollywood career, mostly at Warners, where he directed ten actors to Oscar nominations. James Cagney and Joan Crawford won their only Academy Awards under Curtiz's direction. He put Doris Day and John Garfield on screen for the first time, and he made stars of Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Bette Davis. He himself was nominated five times and won twice, once for Best Short Subject for Sons of Liberty and once as Best Director for Casablanca.
  Curtiz was among those who introduced to Hollywood a visual style using artistic lighting, extensive and fluid camera movement, high crane shots, and unusual camera angles.
context_section_description: Curtiz's films continued to cover a wide range of genres, including biopics, comedies, and musicals. Some of the popular and well-received films included Young Man with a Horn (1950), Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951), The Story of Will Rogers (1952), White Christmas (1954), We're No Angels (1955), and King Creole (1958).
  Young Man with a Horn (1950) starred Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Doris Day, with Douglas portraying the rise and fall of a driven jazz musician, based on real-life cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. Curtiz directed another biopic, Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951), this time starring Burt Lancaster, based on the true story of a Native American athlete who won more gold medals than any other athlete at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. The film received plaudits as one of the most compelling of all sports movies.
  Curtiz followed with I'll See You in My Dreams (1952), with Doris Day and Danny Thomas. The film is a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz, who first auditioned her and gave her a starring role in her debut film, Romance on the High Seas (1948). She was shocked at being offered a lead in her first film, and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience. What Curtiz liked about her after the audition was that "she was honest," he said, not afraid to tell him she was not an actress. That, and the observation "her freckles made her look like the All-American Girl," he said. Day would be the discovery he boasted about most later in his career.
  The Story of Will Rogers (1952), also a biography, told the story of the humorist and movie star Will Rogers, played by Will Rogers Jr., his son.
  The long partnership between Curtiz and Warner Bros., eventually descended into a bitter court battle. After his relationship with Warner Bros. broke down, Curtiz continued to direct on a freelance basis from 1954 onwards. The Egyptian (1954) (based on Mika Waltari's novel about Sinuhe) for Fox starred Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, and Gene Tierney. He directed many films for Paramount, including White Christmas, We're No Angels, and King Creole. White Christmas (1954), Curtiz's second adaptation of an Irving Berlin musical, was a major box-office success, the highest-grossing film of 1954. It starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen.
  Another musical, King Creole (1958), starred Elvis Presley and Carolyn Jones. When asked to direct Elvis, who was then the "king of rock and roll", Curtiz could only laugh, assuming Elvis would not be able to act. After a few conversations with him, however, his opinion changed: "I began to sit up and take notice," Curtiz said, adding, "I guarantee that he'll amaze everyone. He shows formidable talent. What's more, he'll get the respect he so dearly desires." During filming, Elvis was always the first one on the set. When he was told what to do, regardless of how unusual or difficult, he said simply, "You're the boss, Mr. Curtiz."
  The script, the music, and the acting all came together to produce a remarkable picture, the likes of which Elvis never matched in his career. It received good reviews: Variety magazine declared that the film "Shows the young star [Presley] as a better than fair actor". The New York Times also gave it a favorable review: "As for Mr. Presley, in his third screen attempt, it's a pleasure to find him up to a little more than Bourbon Street shoutin' and wigglin'. Acting is his assignment in this shrewdly upholstered showcase, and he does it, so help us, over a picket fence." Presley later thanked Curtiz for giving him the opportunity to show his potential as an actor; of his 33 films, Elvis considered it his favorite.
  The final film that Curtiz directed was The Comancheros, released six months before his death from cancer on April 10, 1962. Curtiz was ill during the shoot, but star John Wayne took over directing on the days Curtiz was too ill to work. Wayne did not want to take a co-director credit.
caption: Elvis in King Creole
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