Cukor was born on theLower East Side of Manhattan, the younger child and only son ofHungarian-Jewish immigrants Viktor, an assistant district attorney, and Helén Ilona Gross. His parents selected his (first and) middle name in honor ofSpanish–American War heroGeorge Dewey. The family was not particularly religious (with pork a staple on the dinner table), and when he started attending temple as a boy, Cukor learned Hebrew phonetically, with no real understanding of the meaning of the words or what they represented. As a result, he was ambivalent about his faith and dismissive of old world traditions from childhood, and as an adult he embracedAnglophilia to remove himself even further from his roots.[3]
As a child, Cukor appeared in several amateur plays and took dance lessons, and at the age of seven he performed in a recital withDavid O. Selznick, who in later years became a mentor and friend.[4] As a teenager, Cukor frequently was taken to theNew York Hippodrome by his uncle. Infatuated with theatre, he often cut classes atDeWitt Clinton High School to attend afternoon matinees.[5][6] During his senior year, he worked as asupernumerary with theMetropolitan Opera, earning 50¢ per appearance, and $1 if he was required to perform inblackface.[7]
Following his graduation in 1917, Cukor was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a career in law. He halfheartedly enrolled in theCity College of New York, where he entered the Students Army Training Corps in October 1918. His military experience was limited;Germany surrendered in early November, and Cukor's duty ended after only two months. He left school shortly afterwards.[8]
Cukor obtained a job as an assistant stage manager and bit player with a touring production ofThe Better 'Ole, a popular British musical based onOld Bill, a cartoon character created byBruce Bairnsfather.[9] In 1920, he became the stage manager for the Knickerbocker Players, a troupe that shuttled between Syracuse, New York and Rochester, New York, and the following year he was hired as general manager of the newly formed Lyceum Players, an upstatesummer stock company. In 1925, he formed the C.F. and Z. Production Company with Walter Folmer and John Zwicki, which gave him his first opportunity to direct.[10][11] Following their first season, he made his Broadway directorial debut withAntonia by Hungarian playwrightMelchior Lengyel, then returned to Rochester, where C.F. and Z. evolved into the Cukor-Kondolf Stock Company, a troupe that includedLouis Calhern,Ilka Chase,Phyllis Povah,Frank Morgan,Reginald Owen,Elizabeth Patterson andDouglass Montgomery, all of whom worked with Cukor in later years in Hollywood.[12] Lasting only one season with the company wasBette Davis. Cukor later recalled: "Her talent was apparent, but she did buck at direction. She had her own ideas, and though she only did bits and ingenue roles, she didn't hesitate to express them." For the next several decades, Davis claimed she was fired, and although Cukor never understood why she placed so much importance on an incident he considered so minor, he never worked with her again.[13]
For the next few years, Cukor alternated between Rochester in the summer months and Broadway in the winter. His direction of a 1926 stage adaptation ofThe Great Gatsby byOwen Davis brought him to the attention of the New York critics. Writing in theBrooklyn Eagle, drama critic Arthur Pollock called it "an unusual piece of work by a director not nearly so well known as he should be."[14] Cukor directed six more Broadway productions, then departed for Hollywood in 1929.
When Hollywood began to recruit New York theater talent for sound films, Cukor immediately answered the call. In December 1928,Paramount Pictures signed him to a contract that reimbursed him for his train fare and initially paid him $600 per week with no screen credit during a six-month apprenticeship. He arrived in Hollywood in February 1929, and his first assignment was to coach the cast ofRiver of Romance to speak with an acceptable Southern accent.[15] In October, the studio lent him toUniversal Pictures to conduct the screen tests and work as a dialogue director forAll Quiet on the Western Front, released in 1930. That year, he co-directed three films at Paramount, and his weekly salary was increased to $1,500.[16] He made his solo directorial debut withTarnished Lady (1931) starringTallulah Bankhead.
Cukor was then assigned toOne Hour with You (1932), anoperetta withMaurice Chevalier andJeanette MacDonald, when original directorErnst Lubitsch opted to concentrate on producing the film instead. At first the two men worked well together, but two weeks into filming Lubitsch began arriving on the set on a regular basis, and he soon began directing scenes with Cukor's consent. Upon the film's completion, Lubitsch approached Paramount general managerB.P. Schulberg and threatened to leave the studio if Cukor's name wasn't removed from the credits. When Schulberg asked him to cooperate, Cukor filed suit. He eventually settled for being billed as assistant director and then left Paramount to work with David O. Selznick atRKO Studios.[17]
Scene from Cukor's hit filmThe Philadelphia Story
Cukor quickly earned a reputation as a director who could coax great performances from actresses and he became known as a "woman's director", a title he resented. Despite this reputation, during his career, he oversaw more performances honored with theAcademy Award for Best Actor than any other director:James Stewart inThe Philadelphia Story (1940),Ronald Colman inA Double Life (1947), andRex Harrison inMy Fair Lady (1964). One of Cukor's earlier ingenues was actressKatharine Hepburn, who debuted inA Bill of Divorcement (1932) and whose looks and personality left RKO officials at a loss as to how to use her. Cukor directed her in several films, both successful, such asLittle Women (1933) andThe Philadelphia Story (1940), and disastrous, such asSylvia Scarlett (1935). Cukor and Hepburn became close friends off the set.
Cukor was hired to directGone with the Wind by Selznick in 1936, even before the book was published.[18] He spent the next two years involved with pre-production, including supervision of the numerous screen tests of actresses anxious to portrayScarlett O'Hara. Cukor favored Hepburn for the role, but Selznick, concerned about her reputation as "box office poison", would not consider her without a screen test, and the actress refused to film one. Of those who did, Cukor preferredPaulette Goddard, but her supposedly illicit relationship withCharlie Chaplin (they were, in fact, secretly married) concerned Selznick.[19]
Between hisWind chores, the director assisted with other projects. He filmed the cave scene forThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938),[20] and, following the firing of its original directorRichard Thorpe, Cukor spent a week on the set ofThe Wizard of Oz (1939). Although he filmed no footage, he made crucial changes to the look of Dorothy by eliminatingJudy Garland's blonde wig and adjusting her makeup and costume, encouraging her to act in a more natural manner.[21][22] Additionally, Cukor softened the Scarecrow's makeup and gaveMargaret Hamilton a different hairstyle for the Wicked Witch of the West, as well as altering her makeup and other facial features. Cukor also suggested that the studio castJack Haley, on loan from20th Century Fox, as the Tin Man.
David O. Selznick
Cukor spent many hours coachingVivien Leigh andOlivia de Havilland before the start of filmingWind, butClark Gable resisted his efforts to get him to master a Southern accent. However, despite rumors about Gable being uncomfortable with Cukor on the set, nothing in the internal memos of David O. Selznick indicates or suggests that Clark Gable had anything to do with Cukor's dismissal from the film. Rather, they show Selznick's mounting dissatisfaction with Cukor's slow pace and quality of work. From a private letter from journalist Susan Myrick toMargaret Mitchell in February 1939: "George [Cukor] finally told me all about it. He hated [leaving the production] very much he said but he could not do otherwise. In effect he said he is an honest craftsman and he cannot do a job unless he knows it is a good job and he feels the present job is not right. For days, he told me he has looked at the rushes and felt he was failing...the things did not click as it should. Gradually he became convinced that the script was the trouble...So George just told David he would not work any longer if the script was not better and he wanted the [Sidney] Howard script back...he would not let his name go out over a lousy picture...and bull-headed David said 'OK get out!'"[23]
Selznick had already been unhappy with Cukor ("a very expensive luxury") for not being more receptive to directing other Selznick assignments, even though Cukor had remained on salary since early 1937; and in a confidential memo written in September 1938, four months before principal photography began, Selznick flirted with the idea of replacing him withVictor Fleming. "I think the biggest black mark against our management to date is the Cukor situation and we can no longer be sentimental about it...We are a business concern and not patrons of the arts." Cukor was relieved of his duties, but he continued to work with Leigh and Olivia de Havilland off the set. Various rumors about the reasons behind his dismissal circulated throughout Hollywood. Selznick's friendship with Cukor had crumbled slightly when the director refused other assignments, includingA Star Is Born (1937) andIntermezzo (1939).[24] Given that Gable and Cukor had worked together before (onManhattan Melodrama, 1934) and Gable had no objection to working with him then, and given Selznick's desperation to get Gable forRhett Butler, if Gable had any objections to Cukor, certainly they would have been expressed before he signed his contract for the film.[25] Yet, writerGore Vidal, in his autobiographyPoint to Point Navigation, recounted that Gable demanded that Cukor be fired offWind because, according to Vidal, the young Gable had been a male hustler and Cukor had been one of his johns.[26] This has been confirmed by Hollywood biographer E.J. Fleming, who has recounted that, during a particularly difficult scene, Gable erupted publicly, screaming: "I can't go on with this picture. I won't be directed by a fairy. I have to work with a real man."[27]
Cukor's dismissal fromWind freed him to directThe Women (1939), which has an all-female cast, followed byThe Philadelphia Story (1940). He also directedGreta Garbo, another of his favorite actresses, inTwo-Faced Woman (1941), her last film before she retired from the screen.
In 1942, at the age of 43, Cukor enlisted in theSignal Corps. Following basic training atFort Monmouth, he was assigned to the oldParamount studios in Astoria, Queens (where he had directed three films in the early 1930s), although he was permitted to lodge at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan. Working withIrwin Shaw,John Cheever andWilliam Saroyan, among others, Cukor produced training and instructional films for army personnel. Because he lacked an officer's commission, he found it difficult to give orders and directions to his superiors. Despite his efforts to rise above the rank of private—he even called uponFrank Capra to intercede on his behalf—he never achieved officer's status or any commendations during his six months of service. In later years, Cukor suspected hishomosexuality impeded him from receiving any advances or honors,[28] although rumors to that effect could not be confirmed.[29]
In December 1952, Cukor was approached bySid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake ofA Star Is Born (1937) with his then-wife Judy Garland in the lead role. Cukor had declined to direct the earlier film because it was too similar to his ownWhat Price Hollywood? (1932), but the opportunity to direct his firstTechnicolor film and work with screenwriterMoss Hart and especially Garland appealed to him, and he accepted.[30] Getting the updatedA Star Is Born (1954) to the screen proved to be a challenge. Cukor wantedCary Grant for the male lead and went so far as to read the entire script with him, but Grant, while agreeing it was the role of a lifetime, steadfastly refused to do it, and Cukor never forgave him. The director then suggested eitherHumphrey Bogart orFrank Sinatra tackle the part, butJack L. Warner rejected both.Stewart Granger was the front runner for a period of time, but he backed out when he was unable to adjust to Cukor's habit of acting out scenes as a form of direction.[31]James Mason eventually was contracted, and filming began on October 12, 1953. As the months passed, Cukor was forced to deal not only with constant script changes but a very unstable Garland, who was plagued by chemical and alcohol dependencies, extreme weight fluctuations, and real and imagined illnesses. In March 1954, a rough cut still missing several musical numbers was assembled, and Cukor had mixed feelings about it. When the last scene finally was filmed in the early morning hours of July 28, 1954, Cukor already had departed the production and was unwinding in Europe.[32] The first preview the following month ran 210 minutes and, despite ecstatic feedback from the audience, Cukor and editorFolmar Blangsted trimmed it to 182 minutes for its New York premiere in October. The reviews were the best of Cukor's career, but Warner executives, concerned the running time would limit the number of daily showings, made drastic cuts without Cukor, who had departed for Pakistan to scout locations for the epicBhowani Junction in 1954–1955. At its final running time of 154 minutes, the film had lost musical numbers and crucial dramatic scenes, and Cukor called it "very painful".[33] He was not included in the film's six Oscar nominations.
Over the next 10 years, Cukor directed a handful of films with varying success.Les Girls (1957) won theGolden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, andWild Is the Wind (also 1957) earned Oscar nominations forAnna Magnani andAnthony Quinn, but neitherHeller in Pink Tights norLet's Make Love (both 1960) were box-office hits. Another project during this period was the ill-fatedSomething's Got to Give, an updated remake of the comedyMy Favorite Wife (1940). Cukor liked leading ladyMarilyn Monroe but found it difficult to deal with her erratic work habits, frequent absences from the set, and the constant presence of Monroe's acting coachPaula Strasberg. It was reported at the time that after 32 days of shooting, the director had only 7½ minutes of usable film.[34] Footage would be discovered in the 1990s that showed at least 37 minutes of total footage had survived. Then Monroe travelled to New York to appear at a birthday celebration for PresidentJohn F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, where she serenaded Kennedy. Studio documents released after Monroe's death confirmed that her appearance at the political fundraising event was approved by Fox executives. The production came to a halt when Cukor had filmed every scene not involving Monroe and the actress remained unavailable.20th Century Fox executive Peter Levathes fired her and hiredLee Remick to replace her, prompting co-starDean Martin to quit because his contract guaranteed he would be playing opposite Monroe.[35] It was also reported at the time that with the production already $2 million over budget[34] and everyone back at the starting gate, the studio pulled the plug on the project. However, Monroe successfully renegotiated her contract from $100,000 to $500,000 with a bonus should the film be completed on time. Cukor was to be replaced by Jean Negulesco. There was limited press at the time about the project restarting and even less on Cukor being replaced. When Monroe was found dead in her home in the beginning of August, Cukor would give a high-profile interview discussing Monroe's many reported problems.
Cukor wanted the Academy to host a film festival in Los Angeles however the plan did not materialize and Cukor ended up being co-founder of theLos Angeles International Film Exposition (Filmex) in 1970.[39]
It was anopen secret in Hollywood that Cukor was gay, at a time when society was against it, although he was discreet about his sexual orientation and "never carried it as a pin on his lapel", as producerJoseph L. Mankiewicz put it.[41] He was a celebratedbon vivant whose luxurious home was the site of weekly Sunday afternoon parties attended by closeted celebrities and the attractive young men they met in bars and gyms and brought with them.[42] At least once, in the midst of his reign at MGM, he was arrested on vice charges, but studio executives managed to get the charges dropped and all records of it expunged, and the incident was never publicized by the press.[43] In the late 1950s, Cukor became involved with a considerably younger man named George Towers. He financed his education at theLos Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences and the University of Southern California, from which Towers graduated with a law degree in 1967.[44] That fall Towers married a woman, and his relationship with Cukor evolved into one of father and son, and for the remainder of Cukor's life the two remained very close.[45]
By the mid-1930s, Cukor was not only established as a prominent director, but also socially as an unofficial head of Hollywood's gay subculture. His home, redecorated in 1935 by gay actor-turned-interior designerWilliam Haines with gardens designed byFlorence Yoch and Lucile Council, was the scene of many gatherings for the industry's homosexuals. The close-knit group reputedly included Haines and his partnerJimmie Shields, writerW. Somerset Maugham, directorJames Vincent, screenwriterRowland Leigh, costume designersOrry-Kelly and Robert Le Maire, and actorsJohn Darrow,Anderson Lawler,Grady Sutton, Robert Seiter, and Tom Douglas. Frank Horn, secretary to Cary Grant, was also a frequent guest.[46]
Cukor died of a heart attack on January 24, 1983, and was interred in Grave D, Little Garden of Constancy, Garden of Memory (private),Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), California.[50] Records in probate court indicated his net worth at the time of his death was $2,377,720.[51]
In 1983, the 1954 version ofA Star Is Born, considered by many to be his greatest picture, was restored to its original runtime of 181 minutes. The film was initially released at 181 minutes and received enormous critical and box office success. Finding that the length restricted the number of daily showings, the studio cut the movie to 154 minutes. Cukor believed this re-release "butchered" the gradual development of the Garland–Mason relationship.[52]
In 2013, The Film Society ofLincoln Center presented a comprehensive weeks-long retrospective of his work titled "The Discreet Charm of George Cukor".[53]
^Kipen, David."Flawed look at career of blacklisted director",San Francisco Chronicle, August 29, 2001. Accessed September 14, 2009. "The American 20th century went to high school at DeWitt Clinton High in the Bronx. Multicultural before there was a name for it – at least a polite one --Clinton nurtured such diverse and influential figures as Bill Graham, James Baldwin, George Cukor, Neil Simon and Abraham Lincoln Polonsky."
^Wilson, Scott.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 10585-10586). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
