(1892–1947). German-born American motion-picture director and producer Ernst Lubitsch won critical and popular acclaim for his sophisticated comedies about upper-class life. His brilliant style, which became known as the “Lubitsch touch,” combined understatement and graceful wit.
Born in Berlin, Germany, on January 28, 1892, Ernst Lubitsch made his screen-acting debut in 1913. Previously, he had studied acting and gone on to join the company of Max Reinhardt in 1911. He played minor stage roles until shortly before World War I, when he became an actor in and director of one-reel comedies. Lubitsch’s elaborate costume features of the late 1910s became the first German productions to be shown abroad. Some of these films, including Madame Du Barry (1919; Passion), Anna Boleyn (1920; Deception), Das Weib des Pharao (1921; The Loves of Pharaoh), and Sumurun (1920; One Arabian Night), won high praise for their innovative camera work. In 1923 Lubitsch received a commission to direct screen star Mary Pickford in Rosita, a grand-scale Hollywood costume drama. He thus became the first German director to immigrate to the United States, and his success attracted many others. Over the next five years, Lubitsch developed his trademark “touch,” which is evident in such silent comedies as Forbidden Paradise (1924), Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925), Kiss Me Again (1925), and So This Is Paris (1926). Lubitsch also produced the last three of these films and continued to work as a producer throughout his career. During this period, beginning with The Marriage Circle (1924), Lubitsch revolutionized set design by making it an integral part of the action. In 1930 he won the first two of his eight Academy-award nominations, for best picture and for best director for The Patriot (1928). With The Love Parade (1929), which won two Academy-award nominations, Lubitsch not only turned to talking pictures but also began making musical comedies. His musicals of the 1930s, particularly those with French actor Maurice Chevalier and American actress Jeanette MacDonald, became the first to introduce songs as a natural part of the plot. Lubitsch’s other films include Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), To Be or Not to Be (1942), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and That Lady in Ermine (1948), completed after his death in Hollywood on November 30, 1947.