Fred Zinnemann

Arguably the most successful German expatriate filmmaker in Hollywood after Billy Wilder, director Fred Zinnemann won two Academy Awards for "From Here to Eternity" (1953) and "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), while helming such classic films as "The Search" (1948), "High Noon" (1952), "The Nun's Story" (1959) and "The Day of the Jackal" (1973) among others. His films were celebrated for their exacting sense of realism, a technique he had adopted from working with documentarian Robert Flaherty, as well as their adventurous casting and numerous acting discoveries. Such legendary stars as Montgomery Clift and Shirley Jones received their start under Zimmermann, while Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed claimed Oscars for playing solidly against type in "From Here to Eternity." After claiming his second Oscar for "A Man for All Seasons," Zinnemann experienced a lengthy dry spell following an expensive and failed attempt to bring the novel Man's Fate to the screen. He rebounded in 1973 with "Day of the Jackal" before scoring a final hit with "Julia" in 1977. In all, Zinnemann's films earned 65 Oscar nominations and 24 actual trophies over the course of his five-decade career, which underscored his reputation as a versatile, reliable filmmaker who knew how to produce the best work from his cast and crew.