Otto Preminger Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the Bronze Berlin Bear award at the 5th Berlin International Film Festival for "Carmen Jones․"
• Earned his law degree from the University of Vienna in order to obtain his father's blessing to become an actor
• By his early teens, he could recite a number of the great monologues from the international classical repertory
• His stylish film noir mysteries cemented his place in Hollywood, but he went on to direct adaptations of popular novels and plays
• His films, some of which explored topics like drug addiction, rape and homosexuality, were known to push the boundaries of his time, sometimes inciting controversy
• Openly hired a blacklisted screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, who recieved credit under his own name for the first time in ten years
• When asked on the radio program "Desert Island Discs" which eight recordings, one book and one luxury he would bring with him to a desert island, he selected music from his own films, his autobiography and a mirror