1.
The Bronx
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The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U. S. state of New York. Since 1914, the Bronx has had the boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a section in the west, closer to Manhattan. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914, about a quarter of the Bronxs area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the boroughs north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north. The name Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, the native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today, the Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River, the origin of Jonas Bronck is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the now known as the Bronx and built a farm named Emmanus close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem. He eventually accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which known as Broncks River or the Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Broncks Land, the American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Broncks son or his younger brother. More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas nephew or cousin, the Bronx is referred to with the definite article as The Bronx, both legally and colloquially. The region was named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the Annexed District of The Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County
2.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Tim Burton
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Timothy Walter Tim Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. Burton has worked repeatedly with Johnny Depp, who has become a friend of Burton since their first film together. He has also worked with musician Danny Elfman, who has composed scores for all, actress Helena Bonham Carter, Burtons former domestic partner, has appeared in many of his films. Both compilations were published by Steeles Publishing, as a preteen, Burton would make short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using crude stop motion animation techniques or shoot them on 8 mm film without sound. Burton studied at Burbank High School, but he was not a good student. He was a very introspective person, and found his pleasure in painting, drawing and watching films and his future work would be heavily influenced by the works of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl. After graduating from Burbank High School with Jeff Riekenberg, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, as a student at CalArts, Burton made the shorts Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus. Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions animation division and he worked as an animator, storyboard artist and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and Tron. His concept art never made it into the finished films, the film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. Having aired once in 1983 at 10,30 pm on Halloween and promptly shelved, prints of the film are difficult to locate. The short would finally go on display in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art. It was again shown at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2012, Burtons next live-action short, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall, after Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the companys resources on doing a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see. Pursuing then an opportunity to make a film, he was approached by Griffin Dunne to direct the black comedy film After Hours. However, after Martin Scorseses project The Last Temptation of Christ was cancelled, not long after, actor Paul Reubens saw Vincent and chose Burton to direct the cinematic spin-off of his popular character Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee Herman gained mainstream popularity with a stage show at The Groundlings
4.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
5.
Gary Cooper
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Gary Cooper was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-five years, from 1925 to 1960, and he was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to men and women, and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Coopers ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his appearing natural, the screen persona he sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American hero. Cooper began his career as an extra and stunt rider. After establishing himself as a Western hero in his silent films, Cooper became a movie star in 1929 with his first sound picture. In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more characters in adventure films and dramas such as A Farewell to Arms. In the postwar years, he portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in such as The Fountainhead. In his final films, Cooper played non-violent characters searching for redemption in films such as Friendly Persuasion and he married New York debutante Veronica Balfe in 1933, and the couple had one daughter. Their marriage was interrupted by a three-year separation precipitated by Coopers love affair with Patricia Neal, Cooper received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Academy Honorary Award for his achievements in 1961. He was one of the top ten film personalities for twenty-three consecutive years, the American Film Institute ranked Cooper eleventh on its list of the twenty five greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Frank James Cooper was born on May 7,1901, at 730 Eleventh Avenue in Helena, Montana to English immigrants Alice and his father emigrated from Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire and became a prominent lawyer, rancher, and eventually a Montana Supreme Court justice. His mother emigrated from Gillingham, Kent and married Charles in Montana, in 1906, Charles purchased the 600-acre Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch about fifty miles north of Helena near the town of Craig on the Missouri River. Frank and his older brother Arthur spent their summers there and learned to ride horses, hunt, in April 1908, the Hauser Dam failed and flooded the Missouri River valley along portions of the Cooper property, but Cooper and his family were able to evacuate in time. Cooper attended Central Grade School in Helena, at Dunstable, Cooper studied Latin and French, and took several courses in English history. While he managed to adapt to the discipline of an English school and learned the requisite social graces, he never adjusted to the class structure. After completing confirmation classes, Cooper was baptized into the Anglican Church on December 3,1911, Coopers mother accompanied her sons back to the United States in August 1912, and Cooper resumed his education at Johnson Grammar School in Helena
6.
Spencer Tracy
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Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American actor, noted for his natural style and versatility. One of the stars of Hollywoods Golden Age, Tracy was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor. Tracy first discovered his talent for acting while attending Ripon College and he spent seven years in the theatre, working in a succession of stock companies and intermittently on Broadway. Tracys breakthrough came in 1930, when his performance in The Last Mile caught the attention of Hollywood. After a successful debut in Up the River, Tracy was signed to a contract with Fox Film Corporation. His five years with Fox were unremarkable, and he remained unknown to audiences after 25 films. In 1935 Tracy joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at the time Hollywoods most prestigious studio and his career flourished with a series of hit films, and in 1937 and 1938 he won consecutive Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. By the 1940s, Tracy was one of the top stars. In 1942 he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, Tracy left MGM in 1955 and continued to work regularly as a freelance star, despite an increasing weariness as he aged. His personal life was troubled, with a struggle against alcoholism. Tracy became estranged from his wife in the 1930s, but never divorced, towards the end of his life, Tracy worked almost exclusively for director Stanley Kramer. It was for Kramer that he made his last film, Guess Whos Coming to Dinner in 1967, during his career, Tracy appeared in 75 films and developed a reputation among his peers as one of the screens greatest actors. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Tracy as the 9th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema, Tracy was born on April 5,1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the son of Caroline and John Edward Tracy. His mother was a Presbyterian from a wealthy Midwestern family, and his one brother, Carroll, was four years older. Spencer was a difficult and hyperactive child with poor school attendance, raised as a Catholic, at nine years old he was placed in the care of Dominican nuns in the hope of transforming his behavior. Later in life he remarked, I never would have back to school if there had been any other way of learning to read the subtitles in the movies. He became fascinated with motion pictures, watching the same ones repeatedly and then re-enacting scenes to his friends, Tracy attended several Jesuit academies in his teenage years, which he claimed took the badness out of him and helped him improve his grades
7.
Henry Fonda
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Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor with a career spanning more than five decades. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and he also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity. His family and close friends called him Hank, in 1999, he was named the sixth-Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Fondas ancestors from Genoa, Italy, migrated to the Netherlands in the 15th century, in 1642, a branch of the Fonda family immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Netherland on the East Coast of North America. They were among the first Dutch population to settle in what is now upstate New York, establishing the town of Fonda, by 1888, many of their descendants had relocated to Nebraska. Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, to advertising-printing jobber William Brace Fonda, Fonda was brought up as a Christian Scientist, though he was baptized an Episcopalian at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Grand Island. He said, My whole damn family was nice and they were a close family and highly supportive, especially in health matters, as they avoided doctors due to their religion. Despite having a background, he later became an agnostic. Fonda was a bashful, short boy who tended to avoid girls, except his sisters, and was a skater, swimmer. He worked part-time in his fathers print plant and imagined a career as a journalist. Later, he worked after school for the phone company, Fonda was active in the Boy Scouts of America, Teichmann reports that he reached the rank of Eagle Scout. When he was about 14, his father took him to observe the lynching of a black man accused of rape. This enraged the young Fonda and he kept a keen awareness of prejudice for the rest of his life, by his senior year in high school, Fonda had grown to more than six feet tall, but remained shy. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in journalism and he took a job with the Retail Credit Company. He was fascinated by the stage, learning everything from set construction to stage production, Fonda decided to quit his job and go East in 1928 to seek his fortune. He arrived on Cape Cod and played a role at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis. A friend took him to Falmouth, MA where he joined and quickly became a member of the University Players
8.
Joel McCrea
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Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films. McCrea was born in South Pasadena, California, the son of Thomas McCrea, as a boy, he had a paper route, and delivered the Los Angeles Times to Cecil B. DeMille and other people in the film industry and he also had the opportunity to watch D. W. Griffith filming Intolerance, and was an extra in a serial starring Ruth Roland. He moved to RKO in 1930, where he established himself as a leading man who was considered versatile enough to star in both dramas and comedies. In the 1930s, McCrea starred in Bird of Paradise, directed by King Vidor, in 1932 he starred with Fay Wray in The Most Dangerous Game - which used some of the same jungle sets built for King Kong as well as cast members Wray and Robert Armstrong. Later in the decade, he was the first actor to play Dr. Kildare, in the film Internes Cant Take Money, McCrea also starred in two William A. Wellman westerns, The Great Mans Lady, again with Stanwyck, and Buffalo Bill, with character actor Edgar Buchanan, after the success of The Virginian in 1946, McCrea made Westerns exclusively for the rest of his career, with the exception of the British-made Rough Shoot. Performing in Westerns was a return to what he had earlier in his career. In a 1978 interview, he said, I liked doing comedies, the minute I got a horse and a hat and a pair of boots on, I felt easier. I didnt feel like I was an actor anymore, I felt like I was the guy out there doing it. In the early 1950s, McCrea starred as Jayce Pearson on the series western. In 1959, Joel McCrea and his son Jody McCrea starred in the NBC-TV series Wichita Town, which lasted only one season. Four more years were to pass before his film, but 1970 saw the release of two films, Cry Blood, Apache, again with his son Jody, and Sioux Nation. McCrea made his film appearance in 1976, in Mustang Country. McCrea married actress Frances Dee in 1933, after they met while filming The Silver Cord, the couple had three sons, David, who became a rancher, Peter, who became a real estate developer, and Jody, who became an actor. Joel and Frances remained married until his death — spending 57 years together, according to David Ragans Stars of the 30s, the McCreas were prodigious savers, accumulating a large estate, which included working-ranch properties. Joel McCreas work ethic was in part attributed to his Scottish heritage and it also may have stemmed from his friendship in the 1930s with fellow personality and sometime actor, Will Rogers. McCrea recounted that the Oklahoma Sage gave him a piece of advice, Save half of what you make
9.
Fredric March
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Fredric March was a distinguished stage actor and one of Hollywoods most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 40s. March is the actor to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Cora Brown Marcher, a schoolteacher, and John F. Bickel, March attended the Winslow Elementary School, Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He appeared on Broadway in 1926, and by the end of the decade, March served in the United States Army during World War I as an artillery lieutenant. March received an Oscar nomination for the 4th Academy Awards in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway and he returned to Broadway after a ten-year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the success of Thornton Wilders The Skin of Our Teeth he focused as much on Broadway theatre as Hollywood. He also had successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961. He also starred in films as I Married a Witch and Another Part of the Forest during this period. On March 25,1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, marchs neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman. In 1957, March was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. March co-starred with Spencer Tracy in the 1960 Stanley Kramer film Inherit the Wind, in which he played a version of famous orator. Marchs Bible-thumping character provided a rival for Tracys Clarence Darrow-inspired character, the recordings were narrated by Charles Collingwood, with March and his wife Florence Eldridge performing dramatic readings from historical documents and literature. Following surgery for cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last performance in The Iceman Cometh, as the complicated Irish saloon keeper. March was married to actress Florence Eldridge from 1927 until his death in 1975 and he died from prostate cancer, at age 77, in Los Angeles, California, he was buried at his estate in New Milford, Connecticut. Throughout his life, he and his wife were supporters of the Democratic Party, biographies of March include Fredric March, Craftsman First, Star Second by Deborah C. Peterson, and Fredric March, A Consummate Actor by Charles Tranberg, Fredric March at the Internet Movie Database Fredric March at the Internet Broadway Database Photographs of Fredric March
10.
Cary Grant
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Cary Grant was a British-American actor, known as one of classic Hollywoods definitive leading men. He began a career in Hollywood in the early 1930s, and became known for his accent, debonair demeanor. He became an American citizen in 1942, Born in Horfield, Bristol, Grant became attracted to theatre at a young age, and began performing with a troupe known as The Penders from the age of six. After attending Bishop Road Primary School and Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, he toured the country as a stage performer and he established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Along with the later Arsenic and Old Lace and I Was a Male War Bride, having established himself as a major Hollywood star, he was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart. In the 1940s and 1950s, Grant forged a relationship with the director Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in films such as Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief. Hitchcock admired Grant and considered him to have been the actor that he had ever loved working with. His comic timing and delivery made Grant what Premiere magazine considers to have quite simply. Grant was married five times, three of his marriages were elopements with actresses—Virginia Cherrill, Betsy Drake and Dyan Cannon and he has one daughter with Cannon, Jennifer Grant. After his retirement from acting in 1966, Grant pursued numerous business interests, representing cosmetics firm Fabergé. He was presented with an Honorary Oscar by his friend Frank Sinatra at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970, in 1999, the American Film Institute named Grant the second greatest male star of Golden Age Hollywood cinema, after Humphrey Bogart. Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18,1904 at 15 Hughenden Road in the northern Bristol suburb of Horfield and he was the second child of Elias James Leach and Elsie Maria Leach. Elias, the son of a potter, worked as a tailors presser at a factory, while Elsie. Grants elder brother, John William Elias Leach, died of tuberculous meningitis, Grant considered himself to have been partly Jewish. He had an upbringing, his father was an alcoholic. Wanting the best for her son, Elsie taught Grant song and dance when he was four and she would occasionally take him to the cinema where he enjoyed the performances of Charlie Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Fatty Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Mack Swain and Broncho Billy Anderson. Grant entered education when he was four-and-a-half and was sent to the Bishop Road Primary School, Bristol, another biographer, Geoffrey Wansell, notes that Elsie blamed herself bitterly for the death of Grants older brother John, and never recovered from it. Grant later acknowledged that his experiences with his fiercely independent mother affected his relationships with women later in life
11.
Alfred Hitchcock
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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
12.
Fritz Lang
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Friedrich Christian Anton Fritz Lang was an Austrian-German filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best-known émigrés from Germanys school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the Master of Darkness by the British Film Institute. His most famous include the groundbreaking futuristic Metropolis and the also influential M. Lang was born in Vienna as the son of Anton Lang, an architect and construction company manager. He was baptized on December 28,1890, at the Schottenkirche in Vienna, Langs parents were of Moravian descent and practicing Roman Catholics. His parents took their religion seriously and were dedicated to raising Fritz as a Catholic, Lang frequently had Catholic-influenced themes in his films. Late in life, he described himself as born Catholic, after finishing school, Lang briefly attended the Technical University of Vienna, where he studied civil engineering and eventually switched to art. In 1910 he left Vienna to see the world, traveling throughout Europe and Africa and later Asia, in 1913, he studied painting in Paris, France. At the outbreak of World War I, Lang returned to Vienna and volunteered for service in the Austrian army and fought in Russia and Romania. While recovering from his injuries and shell shock in 1916, he wrote some scenarios, Langs writing stint was brief, as he soon started to work as a director at the German film studio Ufa, and later Nero-Film, just as the Expressionist movement was building. In 1920, he met his wife, the writer. Considered by many scholars to be his masterpiece, M is a disturbing story of a child murderer who is hunted down. M remains a work, it was remade in 1951 by Joseph Losey, but this version had little impact on audiences. During the climactic scene in M, Lang allegedly threw Peter Lorre down a flight of stairs in order to give more authenticity to Lorres battered look. Lang, who was known for being hard to work with, epitomized the stereotype of the tyrannical German film director and his wearing a monocle added to the stereotype. At the end of 1932, Lang started filming The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933, and by March 30, the new regime banned it as an incitement to public disorder. Testament is sometimes deemed an anti-Nazi film as Lang had put phrases used by the Nazis into the mouth of the title character. Lang had stated that it was during this meeting that he had decided to leave for Paris –, Lang has stated that he fled that very evening
