Andrew Marton

Endre Marton
Born 26 January 1904
Budapest, Hungary
Died 7 January 1992 (aged 87)
Santa Monica, California
Nationality Hungarian
Occupation Film director, second unit director

Andrew Marton (born Endre Marton; 26 January 1904 – 7 January 1992) was a Hungarian-American film director, producer and editor. In his career he directed 39 films and television programs, and worked on 16 as a second unit director, including the chariot race in Ben Hur.

Life and career

Marton was born in Budapest, Hungary. After high-school graduation in 1922 he was taken by Alfréd Deésy to Vienna to work at Sascha-Film, mostly as an assistant editor. After a few months, he rose the attention of director Ernst Lubitsch, who convinced him to try his luck in Hollywood. Marton returned to Europe in 1927, and worked as the main editor of the Tobis company in Berlin, and later as an assistant director in Vienna. He directed his first feature film, Two O'Clock in the Morning, in 1929 in Great Britain. He joined a German expedition to Tibet in 1934, where he filmed Der Dämon des Himalaya. Marton cited that he was Jewish as a reason that the film could not be released with his name as director, citing a conversation he had had with Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.[1]

After returning to Hungary, he directed his only Hungarian movie in 1935 in Budapest. Between 1936 and 1939 he worked with Alexander Korda in London. After the outbreak of World War II, he moved to the United States for good. During the 1940s and 1950s he worked mostly for MGM Studios. In 1954 he founded his own production company with Iván Törzs, Louis Meyer and László Benedek. He was active until the middle of the 1970s. On January 7, 1992, he died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California.[2]

Legacy

The works of Andrew Marton are focused on exoticism, nature, and spectacle. Beside feature films, he was also notable in television, creating several nature films and supervising episodes of series like Flipper and Daktari. Remembered for cinematic moments like the chariot race of Ben Hur, or the battle scenes of A Farewell to Arms, he worked as second unit director with Hollywood directors including William Wyler, Fred Zinneman, Joseph Mankiewicz and Mike Nichols.

Selected filmography

Director

Second unit director

Editor

References

  1. ↑ Marton, Andrew; D'Antonio, Joanne. Andrew Marton: Interviewed by Joanne D'Antonio, p. 79. Directors Guild of America, 1991. ISBN 0-8108-2472-8. Accessed March 5, 2012. "Marton: I was a Jew, and I could not direct this picture. It could not come out with my name on it. I Had negotiations with Mr. Goebbels in his office where he said, 'I understand that the leading man, the cameraman and your wife who plays the leading lady all say they will not finish the picture unless you direct it."
  2. ↑ Andrew Marton, Film Director

External links