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George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an Academy Award-winning American film director. Cukor`s career flourished at RKO and later MGM where he directed a string of impressive films including What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936), and Camille (1937).


Cukor was born in New York City to Hungarian Jewish immigrants, Victor F. and Helen (Gross) Cukor. As a teenager, he was infatuated with theater and often cut classes to attend afternoon matinees. Following his graduation from De Witt Clinton High School in 1916, he spent a year with the Students Army Training Corps. He then obtained a job as an assistant stage manager for a Chicago theater company. After gaining three years of experience, he formed his own stock company in Rochester, New York in 1920, giving set designer employment to a young Russel Wright, and worked there for seven years. He then returned to Broadway where he worked with such formidable actresses as Ethel Barrymore, Dorothy Gish, Estelle Winwood, and Jeanne Eagels.

When Hollywood began to recruit New York theater talent for sound films, Cukor answered their call and moved there in 1929. His first job was as a dialog director at Paramount Pictures for the film River of Romance (1929), followed by All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) at Universal Pictures. He then co-directed three films at Paramount before making his solo debut directing Tallulah Bankhead in Tarnished Lady (1931). Cukor left Paramount after a legal dispute resulting from his dismissal from an earlier Paramount film, One Hour With You (1932), and went to work with David O. Selznick at RKO Studios.

Cukor`s directed a string of impressive films including What Price Hollywood? (1932 ), A Bill of Divorcement (1932) at RKO, Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936), and Camille (1937) at MGM.

By this time, Cukor had established a reputation as a director who could coax great performances from actresses and he became known as a "woman`s director," a title which he resented.
One of Cukor`s first ingenues was actress Katharine Hepburn, who debuted in A Bill of Divorcement and whose looks and personality left RKO officials at a loss as to how to use her. Cukor ended up directing her in her most successful films and they became close friends off the set.

Cukor was hired to direct Gone with the Wind by David O. Selznick in 1937 and he spent two years with pre-production duties as well as spending long hours coaching Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland, the film`s stars. Cukor was replaced after less than three weeks of shooting, but continued to coach Leigh and De Havilland off the set.

Following the firing of its original director Richard Thorpe, Cukor also played a similar role in the production of The Wizard of Oz. Brought in on a temporary basis he made crucial changes to the look and feel of the film. In particular, he adjusted Judy Garland`s makeup, costuming and performance, encouraging her to act in a more natural manner that greatly contributed to the success of the final film.

Cukor`s next film, The Women (1939), a popular film notable for its all female cast and The Philadelphia Story (1940) starring Katharine Hepburn. He also directed another of his favorite actresses, Greta Garbo, in Two Faced Woman (1941), her