Biography

Sam Spiegel

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Born in Germany, he went to America some time before the second World War and spent a year in Hollywood reading foreign scripts. Afterwards, he returned to Berlin where he set up his own company to organise the remaking of foreign films into German language versions. One he handled was 'All Quiet on the Western Front', an anti war film that became a kind of personal crusade for him. On the opening, night the Nazis put a bomb in the cinema. When the Nazis eventually came into power, he left Germany and divided his time between Britain, France and America. He changed his name to the more international sounding S.P. Eagle, but changed it back when with 'On the Waterfront' he realised that he had made a film to which any man would be proud to put his name.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

As of 2018, holds the record (along with Saul Zaentz) of winning the Academy Award for Best Picture three times, for producing On the Waterfront (1954), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
According to his biographer Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, Spiegel used the casting couch quite liberally to dole out roles to actresses in his production of The Chase (1966). He had not been able to behave that way during the production of his two earlier Oscar-winning productions, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), as they had had virtually all-male casts.
He has produced four films have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The African Queen (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Owned a large yacht in his later years. The yacht was based on the French Riviera.
Was the epitome of the short, squat, tough, cigar-chewing producer. A ceaseless perfectionist and micro manager with a choleric temperament to match, he often clashed violently with writers and directors, including David Lean and Irwin Shaw.

I believe in mortality, but not in inflicting it on myself.
I'll either become a very rich and famous man, or die like a dog in the gutter.
We did not try to resolve the legend of of Lawrence of Arabia (1962). We tried to perpetuate it.
You make a star - you sometimes make a monster.
Hollywood has always been full of bartenders and waiters who want to be directors. Trouble is most of them have achieved their ambition.

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