Director Fred Zinneman Dies At 89 He Won Oscars For ‘A Man For All Seasons’, ‘From Here To Eternity’

Fred Zinnemann, who directed such classics as “High Noon” and “Oklahoma!” and won Oscars for “From Here to Eternity” and “A Man for All Seasons,” died Friday in London. He was 89.

“It appears to be natural causes,” said Pamela Godfrey, a colleague of Zinnemann’s son, producer Tim Zinnemann. “He just stopped.”

A slight, soft-spoken man, Zinnemann was an anomaly in an era of flamboyant directors. He rarely raised his voice on movie sets, yet there was never a question of who was in charge. He repeatedly challenged the authority of studio bosses like Jack Warner and Harry Cohn.

Columbia boss Cohn insisted on contract player Aldo Ray for the lead role of the soldier Prewitt in “From Here to Eternity.” Zinnemann threatened to quit unless Montgomery Clift played the role.

“I’m president of the company! You can’t give me ultimatums!” Cohn is reported to have thundered as Zinnemann quietly argued that the film would be better with Clift. He won his case.

“You can only describe him with the best adjectives available. His films, his awards, speak for themselves,” said Leonard Hirschan, a senior William Morris Agency executive who had known the director for 40 years. “If you were to compare him, you would be talking about Mozart and Rembrandt.”

A director equally skilled with drama, Westerns and musicals, Zinnemann was revered by actors for his patient attention to their performances. He directed Marlon Brando’s first film, “The Men,” and won Oscars for Gary Cooper (“High Noon”), Paul Scofield (“A Man for All Seasons”), Jason Robards (“Julia”) and Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra (“From Here to Eternity”).

“I was always drawn to scripts in which the conflict is interior,” he remarked in a 1986 interview. “I find the question of conscience very challenging to dramatize, a very delicate matter. This usually means there’s not going to be a hell of a lot of external action.”

Notable examples of that theme: “From Here to Eternity,” in which Clift’s Prewitt fought the evils of the prewar Army; “High Noon,” with Sheriff Cooper striving to rally a town’s help against outlaws; “A Man for All Seasons,” about Sir Thomas More’s martyrdom for religious principles.

Zinnemann was born in Vienna on April 29, 1907. He went to law school at Vienna University, but would skip classes to watch the silent movies of King Vidor and Erich von Stroheim.

After studying film and working in Paris and Berlin studios, Zinnemann left for Hollywood, arriving in 1929 just as talkies were starting. His first job was as an extra in “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

As a director in the MGM shorts department, he won a 1938 Oscar with his one-reeler “That Mother Might Live.” His 1951 fund-raising short for a children’s hospital, “Benjy,” also won an Oscar.

Zinnemann moved to features at MGM with “The Kid Glove Killer” in 1942. He achieved maturity in 1948 with a drama of postwar Europe, “The Search,” which marked Montgomery Clift’s film debut.

With “High Noon” (1952) and “From Here to Eternity” (1953), Zinnemann became a first-rank director. His other major films include “Oklahoma!” (1955), “The Nun’s Story” (1959) and “The Sundowners” (1960).

Zinnemann again battled a studio in 1966 to make the film version of “A Man for All Seasons.” “It was not a surefire commercial film,” he said.

Over the company’s protests, he cast an unknown English stage actor, Paul Scofield, in the lead role.

The film marked the apex of his career, winning Oscars for best picture, best director and best actor.

Zinnemann fought to the end for the integrity of his films, signing papers just two weeks ago to bring a case before the Italian courts protesting the telecast of a colorized version of his 1944 movie, “The Seventh Cross.”

“Technically speaking, it was an abomination,” he said.

In 1994, he became the first person to receive the Artists Rights Foundation’s John Huston Award for courage, vision and distinguished service on behalf of artists’ rights.

In a videotaped congratulatory message shown at the awards dinner, President Clinton called the director’s work extraordinary and said “High Noon,” which he had seen 18 or 20 times, was his favorite film.

“His movies, now classics, not only entertain but enlighten us and challenge us to bring out our better selves,” Clinton said.

Zinnemann married the former Renee Bartlett in 1936. He is survived by her; the couple’s only child, Tim; and four grandchildren.