Anthony Mann

Mann was born Emil Anton Bundsmann in San Diego, California. His father, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, an academic, was from an Austrian Catholic family, and his mother, Bertha Weichselbaum, a drama teacher, was an American of Bavarian Jewish descent. Mann started out as an actor, appearing in plays off-Broadway in New York City. In 1938, he moved to Hollywood, where he joined the Selznick International Pictures. He was married to the actress Sara Montiel.

Mann became an assistant director by the 1940s, assisting Preston Sturges on the film Sullivan's Travels, and subsequently directing low-budget assignments for RKO and Republic Pictures.

In 1964 he was head of the jury at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1967, Mann died from a heart attack in Berlin, Germany while filming the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic. The film was completed by the film's star, Laurence Harvey.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Anthony Mann has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6229 Hollywood Blvd.

Mann first made his name as director of several films noir. Early films which made Mann a name in Hollywood include:

• T-Men (1947)
• Raw Deal (1948)
• Border Incident (1949)
• Side Street (1950)

However, Mann is probably best remembered today for his work in the Western genre—particularly for eight film collaborations with James Stewart:

• Winchester '73 (1950)
• Bend of the River (1952)
• Thunder Bay (1953)
• The Naked Spur (1953)
• The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
• The Far Country (1955)
• The Man from Laramie (1955)
• Strategic Air Command (1955)

Mann's other westerns include:

• The Furies (1950), starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Devil's Doorway (1950), starring Robert Taylor
• The Last Frontier (1955), starring Victor Mature
• The Tin Star (1957), starring Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins
• Man of the West (1958), starring Gary Cooper

In the 1960s, Mann put aside Westerns to concentrate on making two epics for producer Samuel Bronston:

• El Cid (1961)
• The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

He was also the original director of Spartacus (1960), but was fired early in production by producer-star Kirk Douglas and replaced with Stanley Kubrick, having shot a handful of scenes.

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