Trivia

He took some flak for spending a lot of time in the US during World War II, but it now appears that he was (among other things) acting as a courier for Winston Churchill.

In 1942 he was knighted for services to the film industry by King George VI, the first film personality to be so honored.

Founder/owner of London Film Productions and Denham Studios.

Grandfather of Victoria Korda.

Directed one Oscar-winning performance: Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).

Older brother of Vincent Korda and Zoltan Korda.

In 1936 became a naturalized British subject.

Founded, in his journalism days, the magazine "Le Cinéma de Pest" in Hungary on 10/1/1917.

That Hamilton Woman (1941)was made in just six weeks and allegedly partly financed by Merle Oberon. It is widely regarded as his finest directorial achievement.

His readiness to pay superstar salaries ensured the top stars were always available to enhance the supporting roles of his young contract players. Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Merle Oberon, Sabu, Leslie Howard and Ralph Richardson were just a few of the now greats that he helped to get started.

Father of Peter Vincent Korda (b. 1921).

Uncle of Michael Korda

His third wife was over 30 years his junior and remarried only 14 months after his death. She died of an accidental barbiturate overdose in 1966.

The story was meant to draw a clear parallel between the threats posed by Napoleon in the film and Hitler in reality.

That Hamilton Woman (1941) was his first film to be made entirely in Hollywood since the outbreak of World War II. It was made at Winston Churchill's suggestion to counteract the considerable anti-British sentiment that existed in the US in 1940.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 555-562. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

His talent for obtaining financial backing was unrivaled. He was able to manipulate financiers to his advantage, particularly when he cajoled the Prudential Assurance Co. into being his financial anchor in the 1930s, which enabled him to build Denham Studios in 1936,.

That Hamilton Woman (1941) ran into trouble on moral grounds, so he was forced to insert a speech in which Nelson admits the wrongness of his adultery with Lady Hamilton.

He was summoned before the Senate Select Committee investigating the activities of foreign agents.

Supplied British intelligence agents in the 1930s with cover jobs at his studios in Denham and at London Films to assist in their spying on Nazi Germany.

He promised Winston Churchill that if war broke out his studios would be dedicated to making a great propaganda film but when the time came he had no funding so raised it using money against his own life insurance and made The Lion Had Wings in 12 days for which he became a Ministry of Information advisor for the rest of the war.