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Henry Koster
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Henry Koster (May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was born Herman Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Koster's father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man. Koster still managed to finish [G]ymnasium (high school) in Berlin while working as short story writer and cartoonist.
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Born Herman Kosterlitz in Germany shortly after the turn of the century, Henry Koster grew up in the cinema, literally, as his mother played the piano to accompany the silent films in his uncle's pioneering movie house. Koster cut his teeth as a writer and director working for years at the legendary UFA in Berlin, even making an anti-abortion film for the man who would become Pope Pius: his first foray into religious film subjects.
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In 1936 Koster got a contract to work with Universal in Hollywood, and he travelled to the United States to work with Pasternak, other refugees and his wife. Although Koster did not speak English, he convinced the studio to let him make Three Smart Girls, for which he personally coached 14-year-old star Deanna Durbin. This picture, a big success, pulled Universal out of bankruptcy. Koster's second Universal film, One Hundred Men and a Girl, with Durbin and Leopold Stokowski put the studio, Durbin, Pasternak, and Koster on top.
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Koster didn't direct that one but he met an actress in it -- Peggy Moran. They married after Koster promised she'd appear in every movie he made. Well, Moran was pregnant in her last movie, King of the Cowboys, with Roy Rogers. After that she quit acting. So how did Koster keep his promise as he went on to make Harvey, Flower Drum Song, and more? With statuary -- for his famous movie The Robe, he commissioned a bust of Moran for the Roman villa scenes.
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Koster went on to do numerous musicals and family comedies during the late 1930's and early 1940's, many with Betty Grable, Durbin and other musical stars of the era. Koster worked at Universal until 1941 or so, and then moved to MGM, and then Fox in 1948. Ironically, despite his escape from Nazi Germany, when the United States entered World War II Koster was considered an enemy alien and had to stay in his house in the evening. Actor Charles Laughton would visit Koster and play chess with him.
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Considered a classic, Harvey rates as Koster's best film. Koster would ... work with Stewart four more times in his career, with fond memories of each film. Threats of a remake of Harvey surface from time to time. Koster himself would probably not oppose a remake: he made some himself. Koster's comedies encouraged a nostalgic feel for his audience, an escape for a world weary of war, a yearning for simpler times and innocence lost.
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Henry Koster