At 17, he starred as Lysander in a production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream, and at 19, he was already managing a Vienna theater. By 20, he was mostly bald and had earned his law degree. He spent his twenties becoming one of Europe's most successful theatrical producer-directors and at 26, he directed his first film,
Die Grosse Liebe. Preminger was Jewish, and in 1935, he thought it wise to leave Austria to escape the Nazi threat and take up an invitation to direct Broadway plays in the United States. In New York, he directed Libel, a minor success and the next year went to Hollywood to make the films Under Your Spell and Danger, Love at Work for Daryl F. Zanuck's 20th-Century Fox.
After clashes with Zanuck, Preminger returned to New York and directed the plays Outward Bound, which had a 19-month Broadway run, and Margin for Error, in which Preminger also acted--playing a Nazi official. By 1941, Zanuck was in the Army and Preminger was invited back to Hollywood and remained under contract with Fox as a director, producer and actor until 1952. In 1942, Preminger played Nazi heavies in The Pied Piper and They Got Me Covered, and the next year, he directed and acted in a film version of Margin for Error.
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