Preston Sturges
Birthday:
29 August 1898, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Birth Name:
Edmund Preston Biden
Height:
184 cm
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI. Upon ...
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Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI. Upon his return to Maison Desti, he invented a kissproof lipstick, Red-Red Rouge, in 1920. Shortly after his first marriage, his mother demanded that he return control of the company to her. Kicked out of Maison Desti, he turned to inventing. A tickertape machine, an intaglio photo-etching process, an automobile and an airplane were among his some of his commercially unsuccessful inventions. He began writing stories and, while recovering from an appendectomy in 1929, wrote his first play, "The Guinea Pig". In financial trouble over producing his plays, he moved to Hollywood in 1932 to make money. It wasn't long before he became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his work and wanted to direct the scripts he wrote. Paramount gave him this chance as part of a deal for selling his script for The Great McGinty (1940), at a cheap price. The film's success launched his career as writer/director and he had several hits over the next four years. That success emboldened him to become an independent filmmaker, but that did not last long--he had a string of commercial failures and acquired a reputation as an expensive perfectionist. He moved to France to make what turned out to be his last movie, Les carnets du Major Thompson (1955). He died at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City, in 1959. Show less «
I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the ni...Show more »
I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the night before shooting started. Show less «
[His "golden rule" for successful comedy] A pretty girl is better than a plain one / A leg is better than an arm / A bedroom is better than ...Show more »
[His "golden rule" for successful comedy] A pretty girl is better than a plain one / A leg is better than an arm / A bedroom is better than a living room / An arrival is better that a departure / A birth is better than a death / A chase is better than a chat / A dog is better than a landscape / A kitten is better than a dog / A baby is better than a kitten / A kiss is better than a baby / A pratfall is better than anything. Show less «
You can't go around the theaters handing out cards saying, "It isn't my fault". You go onto the next one.
You can't go around the theaters handing out cards saying, "It isn't my fault". You go onto the next one.
The most incredible thing about my career is that I had one.
The most incredible thing about my career is that I had one.
[on Veronica Lake] She's one of the little people, like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Freddie Bartholomew when he started, who take h...Show more »
[on Veronica Lake] She's one of the little people, like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Freddie Bartholomew when he started, who take hold of an audience immediately. She's nothing much in real life--a quiet, rather timid little thing. But the screen transforms her, electrifies her and brings her to life. Show less «
When the last dime is gone, I'll sit on the curb outside with a pencil and a ten-cent notebook and start the whole thing over again.
When the last dime is gone, I'll sit on the curb outside with a pencil and a ten-cent notebook and start the whole thing over again.
Cold are the hands of time that creep along relentlessly, destroying slowly, but without pity, that which yesterday was young. Alone our mem...Show more »
Cold are the hands of time that creep along relentlessly, destroying slowly, but without pity, that which yesterday was young. Alone our memories resist this disintegration and grow more lovely with the passing years. Show less «