Date of Birth
5 December 1902,
Miskolc, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)
Date of Death
5 February 1988, Saxstead, Suffolk, England, UK (bronchial pneumonia)
Birth Name
Imre József Emmerich Pressburger
Nickname
Imrie
Mini Biography
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, he worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin & in Paris) before World War 2, who finally found sanctuary in London. The trouble was that he was a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with 'renegade' director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) & complex films of the 1940's & 1950's under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British that is only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of use were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.
IMDb Mini Biography By:
Steve Crook
Spouse
| Wendy Orme |
(29 March 1947 - 1971) (divorced) 1 child |
| Ági Donáth |
(24 June 1938 - March 1941) (divorced) |
Trivia
Emeric's novel "The Miracle of St. Anthony's Lane" was written for Kurt Gerron to film in 1934. It had been optioned to make a film at least 4 times and each time the film was not made so the rights reverted to Pressburger. Pressburger said he could retire if he had a few more stories like that. It was finally filmed as Miracle in Soho (1957) in 1957.
Admirers of the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger include Martin Scorsese.
Father of Angela Pressburger, son of Arnold Pressburger.
Received a BFI Special Award (with Michael Powell) in 1978
Made a Fellow of BAFTA, 1981
Made a Fellow of the BFI, 1983
Emeric's grandson Kevin Macdonald is an Oscar winning documentary maker. He has also written a biography about his grandfather.
In 1970, the BFI held their first Powell & Pressburger retrospective. 14 films were shown and the booklet "Michael Powell in collaboration with Emeric Pressburger" by Kevin Gough-Yates was published to accompany the season.
In 1978 the BFI held a complete retrospective showing all the extant works of Powell & Pressburger. The book "Powell, Pressburger and others" by Ian Christie was published to accompany this.
References to "Richard Imrie" are really Emeric Pressburger helping out his old friend Michael Powell but wanting to start a new career as a writer of novels as well as films.
Emeric's grandson Andrew Macdonald is a film producer, his work includes Trainspotting (1996)
Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1962
Personal Quotes
The worst things that happened to me were the political consequences of events beyond my control ... the best things were exactly the same.
[interview in Film-Kurier, 11/2/29] There is an unjustified suspicion of the younger generation and that is an enormous, perhaps the worst, mistake. After all, the future lies in their hands. Pay attention to the younger generation of screenwriters.
[interview in New York City, 1980] I think that a film should have a good story, a clear story, and it should have, if possible, something which is probably the most difficult thing - it should have a little bit of magic . . . Magic being untouchable and very difficult to cast, you can't deal with it at all. You can only try to prepare some nests, hoping that a little bit of magic will slide into them.
Salary
| Men Against Britannia (1957) |
 Michael Powell \x26amp; Emeric Pressburger ...  Emeric Pressburger directing 'Twice ... |
Virtual World, Real Profit!
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