Gottfried Reinhardt (1911–1994)

Gottfried Reinhardt was born in Berlin, Germany. His parents were the renowned Austrian theater director and producer Max Reinhardt and his first wife Else Heims. Gottfried attended the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin and the University of Berlin, and began his career as an actor and director at his father's Deutsches Theater. In 1932, he went on a study visit to the USA, where he remained after the Nazis rose to power. He worked as assistant director to Ernst Lubitsch, and later as a production assistant at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1941 he produced Two-Faced Woman starring Greta Garbo in her final film role. As a naturalized American, he served in the U.S. Army in World War II. Reinhardt made his debut as a film director with Invitation in 1952. He went on to direct or produce numerous other well-known Hollywood and independent films, including The Red Badge of Courage (1951) and Town Without Pity (1961). He also worked in West Germany, where his 1956 film Before Sundown, an adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann's classic play Vor Sonnenuntergang, won the Golden Bear award at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival. He also wrote the books for the Broadway musicals Rosalinda (1942), Helen Goes to Troy (1944), and Polonaise (1945). He wrote a biography of his father, published in the USA as The Genius in 1979, and a memoir of his experiences in film and theater, Proscenium Loge.