Branko Lustig

Branko Lustig was born in Yugoslavia, before it became Croatia, in 1932. By the time he was 12 years old, his family was imprisoned in Nazi camps during World War II. Lustig himself survived both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen before being freed at the end of the war. His experiences would come to fuel his film career, though not at first. Initially, he primarily worked as an assistant director and production manager for projects in Croatia. His early work isn't anything that made it far out of his home country, though "Don't Look Back, My Son" (1956) is renowned as a Croatian classic. His first notable American project was the Norman Jewison-directed "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971), where he served as the location manager. Tha experience carried over into the next decade, where he worked as a production supervisor for the Meryl Streep-starring "Sophie's Choice" (1982), which filmed in Croatia. He followed that up by helping the production of "The Winds of War" (ABC 1983) and "War and Remembrance" (ABC 1988-1989). By the time the latter released, Lustig had moved to America to further pursue his film career. It was around that time that he met acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The pair's discussion led to Spielberg calling on Lustig to produce the Holocaust drama "Schindler's List" (1993), which wound up winning the Oscar for Best Picture, letting Lustig share more of his survival story on a national stage. Entrenched in Hollywood after "Schindler's List," he continued to work in production. Most notably teaming with director Ridley Scott, with which he won his second Oscar for "Gladiator" (2000). He would go on to pair with Scott on many more films, including "Black Hawk Down" (2001), "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005), and "American Gangster" (2007). Following "American Gangster," Lustig's Hollywood interaction started to recede as he approached his 80s. He passed away at the age of 87 in Croatia.