George Cukor

Filmmakers

George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio’s Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO’s major films, including What Price Hollywood? (1932), with Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Brooks Benedict, Louise Beavers, and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson; A Bill of Divorcement (1932), with John Barrymore, Katharine Hepburn, Billie Burke, and David Manners; Our Betters (1933), with Constance Bennett, Anita Louise, and Gilbert Roland; and Little Women (1933), Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas, Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Edna May Oliver, Douglass Montgomery, and Henry Stephenson.

When Selznick moved to MGM in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933), with Marie Dressler, Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Edmund Lowe and Billie Burke; and David Copperfield (1935), with W. C. Fields, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Madge Evans, Maureen O’Sullivan, Edna May Oliver, Lewis Stone, Frank Lawton, Elizabeth Allan, and Roland Young; for Selznick and Romeo and Juliet (1936), with Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, and Andy Devine; and Camille (1936), with Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Jessie Ralph, Henry Daniell, and Laura Hope Crews; for Irving Thalberg.

He was replaced by Victor Fleming as the director of Gone with the Wind (1939), but he went on to direct The Philadelphia Story (1940), with Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart; Gaslight (1944), with Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Angela Lansbury; Adam’s Rib (1949), with Spencer Tracy and Hepburn; Born Yesterday (1950), with Judy Holliday and William Holden; The Actress (1953), with Jean Simmons, Tracy, Teresa Wright, and Anthony Perkins; A Star Is Born (1954), with Judy Garland; Bhowani Junction (1956), with Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers, Abraham Sofaer, Francis Matthews, and Lionel Jeffries; and won the Academy Award for Best Director for My Fair Lady (1964), with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

His later films include Justine (1969), with Anouk Aimée, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Forster, and Anna Karina; Travels with My Aunt (1972), with Maggie Smith, Alec McCowen, Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Stephens, and Cindy Williams; the TV movie Love Among the Ruins (1975), with Hepburn and Laurence Olivier; The Blue Bird (1976), with Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Cicely Tyson, Will Geer, Todd Lookinland, Nadezhda Pavlova, and Gardner; TV movie The Corn Is Green (1979), with Hepburn; and Rich and Famous (1981), with Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen, David Selby, Hart Bochner, and Meg Ryan (in her film debut).

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Grumpy (1930) – co-director
  • The Virtuous Son (1930) – co-director
  • The Royal Family on Broadway (1930) – co-director
  • Girls About Town (1931)
  • One Hour with You (1932) – Directed part of the film when Ernst Lubitsch took ill and was credited as dialogue director
  • What Price Hollywood? (1932)
  • A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
  • Rockabye (1932) – David O. Selznick hired Cukor to film two weeks of retakes after the initial film by George Fitzmaurice did not meet expectations
  • The Animal Kingdom (1932) – uncredited co-director
  • Our Betters (1933)
  • Dinner at Eight (1933)
  • Little Women (1933)
  • Manhattan Melodrama (1934) – directed additional scenes after production
  • David Copperfield (1935)
  • No More Ladies (1935) – completed filming when Edward H. Griffith took ill
  • Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
  • Romeo and Juliet (1936)
  • Camille (1936)
  • I Met My Love Again (1938) – uncredited, assisted Joshua Logan in directing parts of the film
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) – uncredited, shot some retakes after production completed
  • Holiday (1938)
  • Zaza (1939)
  • The Women (1939)
  • Gone With the Wind (1939)** – fired in the early stages of production, but a few of his scenes remain in the finished film
  • Susan and God (1940)
  • The Philadelphia Story (1940)**
  • A Woman’s Face (1941)
  • Two-Faced Woman (1942)
  • Her Cardboard Lover (1942)
  • Keeper of the Flame (1943)
  • Resistance and Ohm’s Law (1943) – documentary short
  • Gaslight (1943)
  • I’ll Be Seeing You (1944) – replaced by William Dieterle during production
  • Desire Me (1947) – contributed to the film along with four other directors, all uncredited
  • A Double Life (1947)
  • Edward, My Son (1949)
  • Adam’s Rib (1949)
  • A Life of Her Own (1950)
  • Born Yesterday (1950)
  • The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)
  • The Marrying Kind (1952)
  • Pat and Mike (1952)
  • The Actress (1953)
  • It Should Happen to You (1954)
  • A Star is Born (1954) – some scenes missing
  • Bhowani Junction (1956)
  • Les Girls (1957)
  • Wild is the Wind (1957)
  • Hot Spell (1958) – uncredited
  • Heller in Pink Tights (1960) – final film was disavowed by Cukor
  • Song Without End (1960) – completed the film when Charles Vidor died during production
  • Let’s Make Love (1960)
  • Something’s Got to Give (1962) – unfinished, abandoned after star Marilyn Monroe‘s death, 37 minutes of footage survives
  • The Chapman Report (1962)
  • My Fair Lady (1964)**
  • Justine (1969) – replaced Joseph Strick shortly after production began
  • Travels with My Aunt (1972)
  • Love Among the Ruins (1975) – TV movie
  • The Blue Bird (1976)
  • The Corn is Green (1979) – TV movie
  • Rich and Famous (1981)