Miloš Forman
| Miloš Forman | |
|---|---|
 at the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival |
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| Born | Jan Tomáš Forman February 18, 1932 Čáslav, Czechoslovakia |
| Occupation | Actor Director Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1953–present |
| Spouse | Jana Brejchová (1958–1962) (divorced) Vera Kresadlova-Formanova (1964–1999) (divorced) 2 children Martina Zborilova-Forman (1999–present) 2 children |
Jan Tomáš Forman (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈtomaːʃ ˈforman]; born February 18, 1932), better known as Miloš Forman ([ˈmɪloʃ ˈforman]), is a Czech American director, screenwriter, actor and professor. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both garnering him the Academy Award as a director. He was also nominated for The People vs. Larry Flynt.
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Early life
Forman was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic), the son of Anna (née Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor.[1] His parents were Protestants; his father was arrested for distributing banned books during the Nazi occupation and died in Buchenwald in 1944, and his mother died in Auschwitz in 1943.[2] Forman lived with relatives during World War II[2] and later discovered that his biological father was a Jewish architect.[3]
After the war, Forman attended King George College public school in the spa town Poděbrady, where his fellow students were Václav Havel and the Mašín brothers. Later on he studied screenwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Career
Forman directed several Czech comedies in Czechoslovakia. However, in 1968, when the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country in what became known as the Prague Spring, he was in Paris negotiating for the production of his first American film. The Czech studio for which he worked fired him, claiming that he was out of the country illegally. He moved to New York, where he later became a professor of film at Columbia University and co-chair (with his former teacher František Daniel) of Columbia's film division. One of his protégées was future director James Mangold, whom Forman had advised about scriptwriting.
In spite of initial difficulties, he started directing in his new home country, and achieved success in 1975 with the adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won five Academy Awards including one for direction. In 1977, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Other notable successes have been Amadeus, which won eight Academy Awards, and The People vs. Larry Flynt, for which he received a Best Director Academy Award Nomination and a Golden Globe win.
Forman's early films are still very popular among Czechs. Many situations and phrases from his movies passed into common use. For example, the Czech term zhasnout (to switch lights off) from The Firemen's Ball, associated with petty theft in the film, has been used to describe the large-scale asset stripping that occurred in the country during the 1990s.
In 1997, he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Forman co-starred alongside Edward Norton in the actor's directorial debut, Keeping the Faith (2000), as the wise friend to Norton's young, conflicted priest.
Forman received an honorary degree in 2009 from Emerson College in Boston.
Personal life
Forman has two twins sons with his former wife, Czech actress Vera Kresadlova-Formanova. Both sons are actors. Forman married Martina Zbořilová on 28 November 1999. They also have twin sons, Jim and Andy, and reside in Connecticut.
In 2006, he received the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation.
Forman became a U.S. citizen in 1977.[1]
The asteroid 11333 Forman was named after Forman.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Oscar nominations | Oscar wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Audition | ||
| 1964 | Black Peter | ||
| 1965 | Loves of a Blonde | 1 | |
| 1967 | The Firemen's Ball | 1 | |
| 1971 | Taking Off | ||
| 1973 | Visions of Eight | ||
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | 9 | 5 |
| 1979 | Hair | ||
| 1981 | Ragtime | 8 | |
| 1984 | Amadeus | 11 | 8 |
| 1989 | Valmont | 1 | |
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | 2 | |
| 1999 | Man on the Moon | ||
| 2006 | Goya's Ghosts | ||
| 2011 | The Ghost of Munich |
References
External links
- Milos Forman at the Internet Movie Database
- Bibliography of books and articles about Forman via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
- Milos Forman, BBC News of March 2001
- Interview with Milos Forman: Defender of the Artist and the Common Man
- Miloš Forman profile
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