STEFAN LORANT Biography - Writers

 
 

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STEFAN LORANT

Name: Stefan Lorant                                                                     
Born: February 22, 1901  Budapest , Hungary                                             
Died: November 14, 1997 Rochester, Minnesota                                             
                                                                                         
                                                                                         
Stefan (Istvan) Lorant (February 22, 1901 in Budapest, Hungary - November 14,           
1997 in Rochester, Minnesota) was a pioneering Hungarian-American editor and             
author.                                                                                 
                                                                                         
                                                                                         
After schooling in Hungary, he left in 1919, to make his mark in films. He would         
make a name for himself at many photographic and literary endeavors before long.         
His first film, The Life of Mozart, gave him credibility as a cameraman. He made         
14 films in Vienna, and Berlin, some of which he wrote, directed, and                   
photographed. He claimed to have given Marlene Dietrich her first film test, and         
though he rejected her for the part, they remained lifelong friends.                     
                                                                                         
Lorant tried more writing and still photography, and soon was editing the               
Münchner Illustrierte Presse, one of Germany's finest picture magazines. Opposed       
to Adolf Hitler, Lorant was imprisoned right after Hitler came to power.                 
Released after six months, he made his way to England, where he wrote I Was             
Hitler's Prisoner, a memoir that sold out many printings. He edited the Weekly           
Illustrated, a popular British picture magazine, then founded Lilliput (made             
famous by his clever picture juxtapositions, as in Neville Chamberlain versus           
the llama), and founded with publisher Sir Edward G. Hulton, the first great             
British picture magazine, Picture Post, on October 1, 1938.