Fred Zinnemann

He married Renee Bartlett on October 9, 1936 who remained with him till his death.

He had one son from the marriage named Timothy.

Fred Zinnemann died of a heart attack in London, England, on March 14, 1997.

Fred Zinnemann was born Alfred Zinnemann in Vienna, Austria on April 29, 1907. His father was an Austrian-Jewish doctor named Oskar Zinnemann and his mother was Anna Feiwel. He had one younger brother.

After finishing school he enrolled at the ‘University of Vienna’ to study music and law and graduated with a degree in law in 1927.

While studying law he became interested in films and decided to go to France in 1927 to join the ‘Ecole Technique de Photographie’ in Paris to learn cinematography for one year.

Fred Zinnemann worked initially as a cameraman for Robert Siodmak in Germany in making the documentary ‘Menschen am Sonntag’ or ‘People on Sunday’ in 1930.

He started his work in Hollywood as an extra in the film ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ directed by Lewis Milestone in 1930.

In early 1930s he became an assistant director to Robert J. Flaherty for a project that was abandoned after some time.

He started to make documentaries which included his debut effort ‘Los Redes’ or ‘The Wave’ in 1936, shot on real locations in Mexico with non-professional local actors.

He was signed up by MGM in 1937 and made ‘That Mothers Might Live’ in 1938 which won him an Oscar.

Jean Zinnemann won an ‘Academy Award’ for the best one-reel short film ‘That Mothers Might Live’ in 1938 and for ‘Benjy’ in 1951.

In 1952 he received the ‘Best Director’s Award’ from the ‘New York Film Critics’ for ‘High Noon’.

He won the ‘Academy Award’ for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture’ for his film ‘From Here to Eternity’ in 1953.

In 1958 he received a nomination for ‘Academy Award for Best Director’ for the film ‘The Search’.

In 1959 he was nominated for an ‘Academy Award for Best Director’ and won the ‘Best Direction’ award from ‘New York Film Critics’ for ‘The Nun’s Story’.