Ophuls, Max, 1902-1957

German born film director Max Ophüls was born in Saarbrücken, Germany on May 6, 1902 as Max Oppenheimer to Hella Helene Bamberger and Leopold Oppenheimer. By 1921 he began working in Austria and Germany as an actor, stage director, and producer. He used the last name Ophüls to avoid offending his conservative Jewish family. After working on approximately 200 plays, Ophüls began working in film in 1929, although he moved frequently to avoid Nazi influence. Ophüls came to the United States in 1940, but was unable to find work in film. Preston Sturges recommended that Howard Hughes hire Ophüls to complete his film Vendetta (1950), which was filmed in 1946. This sparked Ophüls short stint in Hollywood, California. He returned to France in 1949, where he directed his most influential works. Although Ophüls is regarded as one of the greatest film directors of the 1900s, his films were largely dismissed until the feminist movement in the 1970s.

Ophüls married Hilde Hildegard Wall in Vienna Austria on July 12, 1926. They had one son, a fellow film director, Hans Marcel Oppenheimer Ophüls. Ophüls died on March 26, 1957 in Hamburg, Germany.

Source:

Genealogy files about "Max Oppenheimer Ophuls." Accessed on November 5, 2021 on FamilySearch.org.

"Max Ophüls." Encyclopedia Britannica, May 2, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Ophuls.