Henry Koster

When Pasternak moved to Hollywood in 1936, he brought Kosterlitz along. His name "Americanized" to Henry Koster, the young director was signed by Universal. The Koster-Pasternak team took a chance on a teenaged soprano named Deanna Durbin, and the result was the Koster-directed Three Smart Girls (1936), the first in a steady stream of enormously popular Durbin musicals which saved Universal from bankruptcy. In 1938, Koster and Pasternak tried to make the magic happen again, carefully fashioning a whimsical image for alluring French actress Danielle Darrieux in The Rage of Paris (1938). In 1941, Koster again packed up and followed Pasternak when the latter moved to MGM; here they went to work on a new series of frothy Durbin-like musicals with such Metro contractees as Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson. Freelancing after 1947, Koster directed Goldwyn's The Bishop's Wife (1948), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. He became one of James Stewart's favorite directors, guiding Stewart through such films as Harvey (1950), No Highway in the Sky (1951), Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), Take Her, She's Mine (1963), and Dear Brigitte (1965). He also worked frequently for 20th Century Fox, directing that studio's first CinemaScope production, The Robe (1953). His last film was the box-office smash The Singing Nun (1965). Though he would never again direct a film, Koster did not consider himself retired, continuing to pitch story ideas to indifferent studio executives. Finally deciding to take a well-deserved rest, Koster retired to Leisure Village in Camarino, CA, with his second wife, actress Peggy Moran. Toward the end of his life, Henry Koster returned to painting, turning out exquisite portraits of the stars with whom he'd worked during his fabulous 40-year career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide