Alexander Korda

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Sir Alexander Korda (September 16, 1893 - January 23, 1956) was a Hungarian/British film director and producer. He was a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films.

The elder brother of future filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent Korda, Korda was born Sándor László Kellner of Jewish heritage^[1] in Pusztatúrpásztó in Austria-Hungary (now Hungary), where he worked as a journalist (supporting the Hungarian Soviet Republic) before going into films as a producer. He also worked in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Hollywood, becoming director of United Artists. He worked closely with many artists on his films, including his Hungarian friend, painter and set designer Emile Lahner.

The first film Korda made in the United States, in 1927, was titled The Stolen Bride. By 1932 he made 16 more films in the U.S. The last one, Service for Ladies, was made in 1931 and released in 1932 after Korda had already relocated to London.

It was in Britain, however, that he made the biggest impression, and in 1932 he founded London Films, soon to build studios at Denham, financed by Prudential, which eventually became a part of the Rank Organisation. His films were lavish and (after the advent of colour) visually striking. They included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Rembrandt (1936), both of which starred Charles Laughton, who was also to have appeared in the ill-fated I, Claudius (1937).

In 1942, Korda became the first film director ever to be knighted. Among his greatest successes as producer were The Four Feathers (1939), Q Planes (1939), The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and The Third Man (1949). The Red Shoes was also originally meant to be a Korda film and vehicle for his future wife Merle Oberon. It became a J. Arthur Rank film and was eventually made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger instead, starring Moira Shearer.

Korda was married three times, first to Hungarian actress María Corda in 1919. They had one son and divorced in 1930. In 1939, he married film star Merle Oberon, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1945. His last marriage was in 1953 to Alexandra Boycun, with whom he remained until his death three years later.

He died at the age of 62 in London and was cremated. His ashes are at Golders Green Crematorium in London.

The Alexander Korda Award for "Outstanding British Film of the Year" is given in his honor by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.