13 Facts About George Pal

1.

George Pal became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe.

2.

George Pal was nominated for Academy Awards for seven consecutive years and received an honorary award in 1944.

3.

George Pal is the second-most nominated Hungarian exile after Miklos Rozsa.

4.

George Pal graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1928.

5.

George Pal started to use Pal-Doll techniques in Eindhoven, in a former butchery, then at villa-studio Suny Home.

6.

George Pal left Germany as the Nazis came to power.

7.

George Pal made five films before 1939 for Horlicks Malted Milk, a British company.

8.

George Pal switched to live-action film-making with The Great Rupert.

9.

George Pal is best remembered as the producer of several science-fiction and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as When Worlds Collide, four of those were collaborations with director Byron Haskin, including The War of the Worlds.

10.

George Pal himself directed Tom Thumb, The Time Machine, and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.

11.

George Pal is among the many references to classic science fiction and horror films in the opening theme of both the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its cinematic counterpart, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

12.

In 1975, George Pal received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, as well as the San Diego Comic Con Inkpot Award.

13.

The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of George Pal's films, including Jasper and the Beanstalk, John Henry and the Inky Poo, and Radio Rohren Revolution.