Sam Spiegel

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Sam Spiegel

Sam Spiegel (11 November 1901 – 31 December 1985) was an independent Academy Award-winning film producer

Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
.

Spiegel was born in Jaroslau, Austria (now Jaroslaw, Poland) as Samuel P. Spiegel to German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Having opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe....
. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of medieval Hebrew poetry. Spiegel worked briefly in Hollywood in 1927 following a stint serving with Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist-Zionism youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia , Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine....
in Palestine.

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Encyclopedia

Sam Spiegel (11 November 1901 – 31 December 1985) was an independent Academy Award-winning film producer

Film producer

University of Vienna

Hashomer Hatzair

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
to produce German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
adaptations of Universal

Universal Studios

Universal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six Worldwide major American film studios. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California....
films until 1933 when he fled Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. As an independent producer, Spiegel was behind a number of European films. In 1935, he emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Between 1935 and 1954, Spiegel billed himself as S.P. Eagle. After that he used his real name. "...Spiegel a decidedly flawed protagonist, as well as the wit, sophistication, and Old World charm that make him a titanic figure the likes of which the movie industry will not see again."

He won the Academy Award for Best Picture

Academy Award for Best Picture

The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the film industry....
for Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan, September 7 1909 – September 28 2003, was an United States award-winning film director and Theatre direction, film producer and theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and co-founder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947....
's On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront is a United States drama film about mob violence and corruption among stevedore. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg....
and a further two times for his two collaborations with British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
director

Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
David Lean

David Lean

Sir David Lean, CBE, was an England filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter and Film editing, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia , The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago , Ryan's Daughter, and A Passage to India ....
, Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 in film UK epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel , from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson ....
(1962). In 1963, he was awarded the prestigious Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at that year's Academy Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
for his many contributions to cinema.

Spiegel maintained a connection with the Israeli

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
nation throughout his life, particularly with such personalities as Golda Meir

Golda Meir

Golda Meir was the fourth prime minister of the Israel.Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on 17 March 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister....
, Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon

is a former Israeli Prime Minister of Israel and military leader. Sharon served as Prime Minister from March 2001 until April 2006, though he was unable to carry out his duties after suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006, when he fell into a coma and entered a persistent vegetative state....
, Jerusalem Foundation president Ruth Cheshin, and his close friend, then Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
Mayor Teddy Kollek

Teddy Kollek

Theodor "Teddy" Kollek was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, as well as founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983 and 1989....
. Spiegel also contributed to various Zionist causes. He spoke seven languages fluently: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew and Polish.

In his last years, he returned to his Jewish and Zionist roots. He steadfastly met each week with a rabbi

Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
, and willed a significant amount of his personal fortune to the city of Jerusalem.

His heirs and the administrators of his estate, son Adam Spiegel, daughter Alisa Freedman, niece Judge Raya Dreben, and Adv. David Bottoms, decided to transfer Spiegel's impressive art collection to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. From 1996, they have made an annual contribution, through the Jerusalem Foundation, to the film school in Jerusalem bearing his name since that time — the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem

The Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem

The Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem was founded by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Jerusalem Foundation in 1989, has become Israel's leading school of film and television, achieving international acclaim and standing....
. This annual contribution is the largest in the history of Israeli cinema.

In 2005, the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, the Jerusalem Municipality complied with a request from the school's founder-director Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr . Film director, screenwriter, film producer.Son of a physician, Prof. Sam Schorr, grandson of historian Dr. Alexander Schorr, descendent of Rabbi Joseph Bechor Schorr, a 12th century Talmudic commentator from Orleans,France....
to mark the occasion by declaring the lane in the Talpiot industrial section where the school is located "The Sam Spiegel Alley." The street sign's inscription: "Sam Spiegel – Jewish-American Film Producer and Oscar-winner. Pioneer. Lover of Zion."

Filmography - Producer

Betrayal
Betrayal (1983 film)

Betrayal is Harold Pinter's film adaptation of his semi-autobiographical 1978 play Betrayal . The 1983 film was produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by David Jones ....
(1983)
Last Tycoon, The
The Last Tycoon (film)

'The Last Tycoon' , is a film based upon the novel The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald.Directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Sam Spiegel, the film starred Robert De Niro as "Monroe Stahr," Tony Curtis as "Rodriguez," Robert Mitchum as "Pat Brady," Jack Nicholson as "Brimmer," Donald Pleasence as "Boxley", Jeanne Moreau as "Didi...
(1976)
Nicholas and Alexandra
Nicholas and Alexandra

Nicholas and Alexandra is a 1971 in film biographical film which tells the story of the last of Russia's monarchs, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse....
(1971)
Happening, The (1967)
Night of the Generals, The
The Night of the Generals

The Night of the Generals is a suspense/Thriller film set in World War II, adapted from the novel of the same name by Hans Hellmut Kirst. It stars Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettet and Philippe Noiret....
(1967)

...also known as Nuit des généraux, La (1967) (France)

Chase, The
The Chase (1966 film)

The Chase is a 1966 in film American, drama film directed by Arthur Penn who afterwards went on to direct Bonnie and Clyde .Marlon Brando's portrayal of Sheriff Calder is, by many, regarded as one of his best later roles....
(1966)
Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 in film UK epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel , from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson ....
(1962)
Suddenly, Last Summer
Suddenly, Last Summer (film)

Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 in film drama film made by Columbia Pictures, based on Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams. The film was directed by Joseph L....
(1959)
Bridge on the River Kwai, The
The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a Cinema of the United Kingdom 1957 in film World War II film by David Lean; based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle....
(1957)
Strange One, The
The Strange One

The Strange One is a 1957 film about a military academy in the South . The film is based on a novel and stage play by Calder Willingham called End as a Man, and the film is sometimes called by that name....
(1957)

...also known as End as a Man (1957)

On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront is a United States drama film about mob violence and corruption among stevedore. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg....
(1954)
Melba
Melba

Melba may refer to:* Dame Nellie Melba, legendary Australian soprano opera singer* Melba Montgomery, a country music singer* Melba Moore, an American R&B singer and actress...
(1953)
African Queen, The
The African Queen

The African Queen is an Cinema of the United States drama film directed by John Huston and produced by Sam Spiegel and John Woolf. The screenplay was adapted by James Agee, John Huston, John Collier and Peter Viertel from the 1935 in literature novel by C....
(1951) (as S. P. Eagle)
Prowler, The
The Prowler (1951 film)

The Prowler is a 1951 in film black-and-white thriller film directed by Joseph Losey. The film, considered film noir, was produced by Sam Spiegel ....
(1951) (as S.P. Eagle)
When I Grow Up (1951) (as S.P. Eagle)
We Were Strangers
We Were Strangers

We Were Strangers is a 1949 in film adventure film–drama film directed by John Huston starring Jennifer Jones and John Garfield.The film, set in 1933, concerns a group of revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the Cuba....
(1949) (as S.P. Eagle)
Stranger, The
The Stranger (1946 film)

The Stranger 1946 in film film noir/drama starring Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. Welles also directed the film, which was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas....
(1946) (as S.P. Eagle)
Tales of Manhattan
Tales of Manhattan

Tales of Manhattan is a 1942 in film black-and-white anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier.Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Moln?r, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film, three of which were released....
(1942) (as S. P. Eagle)
Derrière la façade (1939)

... also known as 32 Rue de Montmartre (1939) (France: reissue title)

Invader, The
The Invader

The Invader is a comedy film, starring Buster Keaton, released in the United Kingdom in 1935. The film was also known as An Old Spanish Custom....
(1935) (co-producer)

...also known as Old Spanish Custom, An (1935)

Mariage à responsabilité limitée (1933)
Requins du pétrole, Les (1933)
Unsichtbare Gegner (1933)

...also known as Invisible Opponent (1933)

External links

, Digitised BAFTA Journal, Winter 1962-3