Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann (June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American actor and film director.

Biography

Born Emil Anton Bundsmann in the Point Loma area of San Diego, Mann was the son of an Austrian immigrant, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, and Bertha Waxelbaum of Macon, Georgia. 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 Company. Mann became an assistant director in 1942, directing low-budget assignments for RKO and Republic Pictures. Mann was respected for his acute visual sensitivity toward the American Western landscape, effortlessly blending natural vistas with human drama. Mann's dramas verged on classical tragedy, often showing anguished heroes attempting to resolve personal pain and confusion. 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.

Filmography

Mann is best known today for directing several film noir classics, widely hailed as some of the finest films of the genre. Early films which made Mann a name in Hollywood include:

• He Walked By Night (1948), directed but not credited
• Desperate
• Railroaded!
• T-Men
• Raw Deal

Mann also made his mark in the Western genre, particularly for a cycle of collaborations with James Stewart:

• Winchester '73 (1950)
• Bend of the River (1952)
• The Naked Spur (1953)
• The Far Country (1955)
• The Man from Laramie (1955)

Mann's other famous Westerns are:

• 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)

Both films were intelligent and breathtaking examples of the epic form, once more demonstrating Mann's talents for merging drama with landscape and architecture.

Complete list

• A Dandy in Aspic (1968) also producer
• The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
• The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
• El Cid (1961)
• Cimarron (1960)
• Man of the West (1958)
• God's Little Acre (1958)
• The Tin Star (1957)
• Men in War (1957) also producer
• Serenade (1956)
• The Last Frontier (1955)
• The Man from Laramie (1955)
• Strategic Air Command (1955)
• The Far Country (1954)
• The Glenn Miller Story (1953)
• Thunder Bay (1953)
• The Naked Spur (1953)
• Bend of the River (1952)
• The Tall Target (1951)
• The Furies (1950)
• Winchester '73 (1950)
• Side Street (1950)
• Devil's Doorway (1950)
• Border Incident (1949)
• Reign of Terror (1949)
• Follow Me Quietly (1949) director, uncredited also story
• He Walked by Night (1948)
• Raw Deal (1948)
• T-Men (1947)
• Railroaded! (1947)
• Desperate (1947) also story
• The Great Flamarion (1945)
• Dr. Broadway (1942)

External links

• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• El western de Anthony Mann (español)
• The Films of Anthony Mann
• Anthony Mann Profile @ Turner Classic Movies
• Anthony Mann by Emil Anton Bundmann @ Senses of Cinema