- Born
- Died
- Birth nameEmil Anton Bundesmann
- Nickname
- Tony
- Height5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
- Anthony Mann was born on June 30, 1906 in San Diego, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Men in War (1957), El Cid (1961) and The Glenn Miller Story (1954). He was married to Anna Kuzko, Sara Montiel and Mildred Kenyon. He died on April 29, 1967 in London, England.
- SpousesAnna Kuzko(1964 - April 29, 1967) (his death, 1 child)Sara Montiel(August 31, 1957 - 1963) (divorced)Mildred Kenyon(1936 - 1956) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenMann, NicholasMann Jr., Anthony
- Liked to experiment with widescreen "scope" aspect ratios by placing major action on both the far left and right edges of the frame, often in the same shot.
- Often included heavy elements of sadism in his films
- Psychological Westerns
- Towards the end of his career, Mann directed two major epics: El Cid (1961)--which was his last major success--and The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), shot with an international cast at a cost of $18.4 million. Poorly received, the film bankrupted producer Samuel Bronston. Mann only directed two more films and died during shooting of A Dandy in Aspic (1968), which was completed by its star Laurence Harvey.
- A major disagreement with producer/star Kirk Douglas led to him being fired from Spartacus (1960) and replaced by Stanley Kubrick. However, this did not prevent them from working together again five years later in the World War II drama The Heroes of Telemark (1965).
- From age 18, Mann worked on the Broadway stage as an actor, production manager and set designer, later progressing to directing. In 1938, he joined David O. Selznick as a casting director and talent scout, supervising screen tests for Gone with the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940) and Intermezzo (1939).
- He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Winchester '73 (1950) and The Naked Spur (1953).
- Cinematographer John Alton, who had retired in 1960, met former colleague Mann in a Swiss casino high up in the Alps. Mann was directing A Dandy in Aspic (1968) at the time and wanted Alton to shoot his next picture. Alton agreed to talk to him about it the next day, but Mann died before their meeting. According to Alton, "He had been losing so much money at the casino, that probably helped kill him. The industry lost a great man." Aspic star Laurence Harvey finished directing the picture.
- [on Erich von Stroheim] He drove me mad. He was a genius. I'm not a genius, I'm a worker. Geniuses sometimes end up very unhappy, without a penny. That's what happened to Erich - and Preston Sturges, too.
- [on Joseph Losey] Joe Losey's very good. The Servant (1963) is very effective, very well done - for its subject, extraordinarily well-done - and it broke new ground and many new barriers in terms of morals and so on. But it left you small and mean and petty; it didn't release you from anything; it drove home the oppression and weight of its theme rather than bursting you out of it.
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