Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Tati, Jacques zhäk tätēˈ [key], 1907–82, French film writer, director, and actor, b. Jacques Tatischeff. As a semiprofessional rugby player, he entertained his teammates with physical, nonverbal...

(Encyclopedia) Brando, Marlon, 1924–2004, American film actor, often described as the greatest of his generation, b. Omaha, Nebr. Regarded as the foremost practitioner of “method” acting as taught by American ...

(Encyclopedia) Bernstein, Leonard bûrnˈstīn, –stēn [key], 1918–90, American composer, conductor, and pianist, b. Lawrence, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1939, and Curtis Institute of Music, 1941. A highly versatile ...

(Encyclopedia) Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1947–, Taiwanese film director, b. Guangdong, China. His first feature film, Cute Girl (1980), and subsequent ones were generally saccharine romances until the semibiographical A Ti...

(Encyclopedia) Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

(Encyclopedia) Wilder, Billy, 1906–2002, American film director, producer, and writer, b. Sucha, Galicia (now Poland) as Samuel Wilder. He wrote for films in Berlin, fled the Nazis, and arrived in Hollywood in 193...

(Encyclopedia) Gielgud, Sir John (Arthur John Gielgud) gĭlˈgo͝od [key], 1904–2000, English actor, director, and producer. A grandnephew of Ellen Terry, Gielgud made his debut at the Old Vic in 1921. His intelli...

(Encyclopedia)  May, Elaine, 1932-, American actress, film director, and writer, b. Philadelphia, Pa., as Elaine Iva Berlin. May’s parents were both actors; her fat...

(Encyclopedia) Ephron, Nora Louise, 1941–2012, American writer and film director, grad. Wellesley College (B.A., 1962). Witty, tough, self-deprecating, and ironic in all her guises, she was a reporter for the New ...

(Encyclopedia) Beresford, Bruce, 1940–, Australian film director, b. Sydney, grad. Sydney Univ. (1962). Beresford moved to England, worked for the British Film Institute (1966–71), and made several modest films....