History Creator / ErichVonStroheim

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and screenwriter. When he emigrated to the United States in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]], passing himself off as an Austrian noble. (He was in actuality the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for parts as evil Germans, usually stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. This led to his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian nobleman. (He was in reality the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for parts as evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

->''"[Von Stroheim] had only one fault: every sequence in one of his pictures was as important as every other sequence. He made a five-reel picture out of every scene."''

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian nobleman. (He was in reality the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for parts as evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]], passing himself off as an Austrian count. (He was in reality the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for parts as evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian count. (He actually was the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for parts as evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

After the war ended the parts of evil German officers dried up, so Stroheim wrote an original story, ''Blind Husbands'', and managed to talk Universal into not only producing it but letting him direct. This began the ten-year directorial career for which Stroheim is most remembered. He was the epitome of the PrimaDonnaDirector as well as ThePerfectionist, noted for being fastidious to levels not seen untl Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} made ''Film/HeavensGate'', insisting on strict period detail (at great expense to the studio) in films like ''Blind Husbands'', ''Foolish Wives'' and ''The Merry Widow''. He was also known to be a major misogynist, proclaiming during a fight with Louis B. Mayer that all women were whores. Stroheim's bold demeanor and his uncompromising commitment to his art made him opposed to the rising Hollywood Studio System and his films suffered extensive ExecutiveMeddling. In fact he was probably the first director whose films being ReCut was known to the public. The most spectacular instance of this was ''Film/{{Greed}}'', his epic adaptation of the novel ''[=McTeague=]'', which according to rumor was 9 hours in its original cut and later shortened by Stroheim to 6 hours and intended to be released in two parts. The producer Irving G. Thalberg took control of the film, cut it to two hours and the remaining footage was later burnt to [[KickTheDog save vault storage]] with the nitrate silver sold for salvage. Stroheim unsurprisingly regarded this as a travesty, although the industry and the press backed Thalberg at the time and Stroheim was largely vilified for being uncommercial and demanding. He suffered the same fate on his subsequent films too, with ''The Wedding March'' released in two parts (ironically the very arrangement denied to ''Greed'') and the second part going missing in a vault fire at the Paris Cinematheque years later.

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian count. (He actually was the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman and then a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI gave him numerous opportunities for playing evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer.

When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian count. (He was, in actuality, the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and was working as a stuntman and a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI provided him with numerous parts as evil Germans, stereotypical monocled Junkers with boots and riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Creator/{{Universal}}, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

[[caption-width-right:350:The Man You Love to Hate]]

Erich Von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian film director, actor, and producer. When he emigrated to America in 1909 he added [[TheVonTropeFamily the aristocratic "von"]] and passed himself off as an Austrian count. (He was actually the son of a middle-class haberdasher.) Within a few years he had made it to Hollywood and was working as a stock player in Creator/DWGriffith's production company, as well as an assistant director. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI provided Stroheim with several parts as evil Germans, usually stereotypical monocled Junkers with riding crops. It was during this period that his studio, Universal, started billing him as "The Man You LoveToHate".

After the war ended the parts of evil German officers dried up, so Stroheim wrote an original story, ''Blind Husbands'', and managed to convince Universal not only to produce it but to let him direct. This began a ten-year directorial career for which Stroheim is most remembered. He was the epitome of the PrimaDonnaDirector as ThePerfectionist. He was noted for being fastidious to levels not seen till Michael Cimino made ''Film/HeavensGate'', insisting on strict period detail (at great expense to the studio) in films like ''Blind Husbands'', ''Foolish Wives'' and ''The Merry Widow''. He was also known to be a major misogynist, proclaiming during a fight with Louis Mayer that all women were whores. Stroheim's bold commitment to his art and his uncompromising demeanor made him opposed to the rising Hollywood Studio System and his films suffered extensive ExecutiveMeddling. In fact he was probably the first director whose films being ReCut was known to the public. The most spectacular instance of this was ''Film/{{Greed}}'', his epic adaptation of the novel ''[=McTeague=]'', which according to rumor was 9 hours in its original cut and later shortened by Stroheim to 6 hours and intended to be released in two parts. The producer Irving G. Thalberg took control of the film, cut it to two hours and the remaining footage was later burnt to [[KickTheDog save vault storage]] with the nitrate silver sold for salvage. Stroheim unsurprisingly regarded this as a travesty, though the industry and the press backed Thalberg at the time and Stroheim was vilified for being uncommercial and demanding. He suffered the same fate on his subsequent films too, with ''The Wedding March'' released in two parts (ironically the very arrangement denied to ''Greed'') with the second part going missing in a vault fire at the Paris Cinematheque years later.

A bigger meltdown was ''Queen Kelly'' (1929), which starred Creator/GloriaSwanson and was produced by Joseph Kennedy (father of President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy). Swanson didn't like the direction Stroheim was taking the film in and was horrified by the explicit sexual content. Kennedy, like every other producer Stroheim ever had, was appalled by the out-of-control budget. Stroheim, as usual, didn't care what anyone else thought. Probably most importantly, Hollywood was just about done switching over to talkies by this point, but Stroheim was filming ''Queen Kelly'' as a silent film. Kennedy fired Stroheim and halted production.

After that Stroheim was seen as PersonaNonGrata and never directed a movie again. He still found work as an actor, however, and appeared later in films like Renoir's ''Film/TheGrandIllusion'' where his performance was highly touted. His most famous performance is in Creator/BillyWilder's ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' where he and Gloria Swanson are reunited with him playing her butler Max Von Mayerling, a thinly disguised {{Expy}} of himself. The clips of Norma Desmond's silent films in ''Sunset Boulevard'' is actual footage from ''Queen Kelly''.

Stroheim's films were amazing and shocking at the time for the bold sexual content, the pessimistic portrayal of relationships, lack of NarmCharm, and unsentimental naturalistic performances, which greatly improved upon the expressionistic over-the-top acting in silent films. His ''Film/{{Greed}}'' pioneered location shooting and deep focus years before ''Film/CitizenKane''. His films are perhaps more accessible to audiences today than other silent masters like Creator/DWGriffith and Creator/CecilBDeMille, since they aren't piled with Victorian melodrama and sentimentality.