58 Facts About Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann came to prominence as a skilled director of film noir and Westerns, and for his historical epics.

Anthony Mann then became an assistant director, most notably working for Preston Sturges.

Anthony Mann directed Stewart in eight films, including Winchester '73, The Naked Spur, and The Man from Laramie.

In 1967, Anthony Mann died from a heart attack in Berlin before he had finished the latter film; its star Laurence Harvey completed the film, albeit uncredited.

Anthony Mann was born Emil Anton Bundsmann in San Diego, California.

Anthony Mann's father, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, an academic, was born in the village of Rosice, Chrudim, Bohemia to a Sudeten-German Catholic family.

Anthony Mann's mother, Bertha, a drama teacher from Macon, Georgia, was an American of Bavarian Jewish descent.

At the time of his birth, Anthony Mann's parents were members of the Theosophical Society community of Lomaland in San Diego County.

Anthony Mann's mother did not return for him until he was fourteen, and only then at the urging of a cousin who had paid him a visit and was worried about his treatment and situation at Lomaland.

In 1917, Anthony Mann's family relocated to New York where he developed a penchant for acting.

Back in New York, Anthony Mann took a job as a night watchman for Westinghouse Electric, which enabled him to look for stage work during the day.

Towards the end of the decade, Anthony Mann appeared in the Broadway productions of The Blue Peter and Uncle Vanya.

In 1930, Anthony Mann joined the Theatre Guild, as a production manager and eventually as a director.

In 1933, Anthony Mann directed a stage adaptation of Christopher Morley's Thunder on the Left, which was performed at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre.

Anthony Mann worked for various stock companies, and in 1934, he established his own, which later became Long Island's Red Barn Playhouse.

In 1937, Anthony Mann began working for Selznick International Pictures as a talent scout and casting director.

Anthony Mann directed screen tests for a number of films, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Intermezzo, Gone with the Wind, and Rebecca.

Meanwhile, Anthony Mann did notable, but mostly lost, work as a director for NBC's experimental television station W2XBS from 1939 to 1940.

Decades later, Anthony Mann remembered he was told to complete shooting the film in eighteen days.

Anthony Mann is informed of the truth by Dr Leslie Ross, who is later murdered by Blake; in turn, Blake plans to murder Meadows.

Anthony Mann then directed The Great Flamarion, starring Erich von Stroheim and Mary Beth Hughes.

Anthony Mann moved to RKO to direct Two O'Clock Courage, itself a remake of the 1936 film Two in the Dark, with Tom Conway and Ann Rutherford in the leading roles.

Anthony Mann went back to RKO for Desperate, which he co-wrote with Dorothy Atlas.

In February 1948, Anthony Mann was hired to direct a dramatization of the storming of the Bastille, with Richard Basehart to portray an aide to General Lafayette.

Reteaming with Alton, he and Anthony Mann developed a low-cost noir style, using low lighting levels and omnipresent shadows on minimal decor, high-angled camera shots, and rear projection for wide crowd shots.

Anthony Mann again collaborated with Higgins and Alton on the film.

Anthony Mann followed this with a Western at Universal, starring James Stewart, Winchester '73.

Anthony Mann readily accepted, but threw out the script calling Borden Chase for a rewrite.

At the invitation of Hal Wallis, Anthony Mann directed the Western The Furies at Paramount starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston.

Anthony Mann agreed and decided to direct The Last Frontier.

Anthony Mann offered Stewart the lead role to which he declined and instead cast Victor Mature.

In 1956, Anthony Mann was handed the script for Night Passage by Aaron Rosenberg, intending to reunite him with Stewart for a potential ninth collaboration.

Contemporary accounts reported that Anthony Mann withdrew because he had not yet finished editing Men in War.

However, latter accounts state Anthony Mann had developed creative differences with Chase over the script, which Anthony Mann considered to be weak.

In 1967, Anthony Mann had accused Stewart of only doing the film so he could play his accordion.

Anthony Mann asked to be replaced, and James Neilson was hired to direct the film.

Anthony Mann directed a musical starring Mario Lanza titled Serenade.

Anthony Mann then purchased the film rights to John McPartland's then-recently published novel Ripe Fruit, with Montiel set to star.

Mann directed a Western starring Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins titled The Tin Star.

Anthony Mann then teamed with Philip Yordan on two films starring Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray; the first being Men in War was about the Korean War.

The film was the first of three Anthony Mann had directed for United Artists.

Anthony Mann's second project was a 1958 film adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's then-controversial novel God's Little Acre.

Anthony Mann later directed Gary Cooper in a Western, Man of the West for United Artists.

Anthony Mann was hired by Universal Pictures to direct Spartacus, much to the disagreement of Kirk Douglas who felt Anthony Mann "seemed scared of the scope of the picture".

Shortly after, Anthony Mann went to MGM to direct Glenn Ford in a remake of Cimarron.

In July 1960, Anthony Mann was hired to direct El Cid for Samuel Bronston.

Anthony Mann next directed The Fall of the Roman Empire.

The project's genesis began when Anthony Mann, who had recently finished filming El Cid, had spotted an Oxford concise edition of Edward Gibbon's six-volume series The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire near the front window at the Hatchards bookshop.

Anthony Mann then read the book, and after a flight trip to Madrid, he pitched a film adaptation of the book to Bronston, to which the producer agreed.

In October 1966, Anthony Mann was announced to direct and produce the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic for Columbia Pictures.

At the time of his death, Anthony Mann was developing three projects: a Western film titled The King, which was loosely adapted from King Lear, with sons replacing the daughters; The Donner Pass, a film about pioneers trekking to the Donner Pass; and The Canyon, a film about a young Native American becoming a Brave.

In 1936, Anthony Mann married Mildred Kenyon, who worked as a clerk at a Macy's department store in New York City.

Anthony Mann is a man with a past: some psychic shadow or criminal activity that has left him gnarled and calcified.

Anthony Mann's filmography has been observed for his depiction of antiheroes.

Anthony Mann was once an evil outlaw, a member of the notorious Dock Tobin gang.

Anthony Mann was responsible for robberies, raids, and the murders of innocent victims.

Anthony Mann is not interested in beauty per se, neither does he care much for symbolism.

Anthony Mann had an unfailing flair for selecting exteriors that were not only adapted to the requirements of the script but came across as the embodiment of the psychological and moral tensions in it.