Josef Berne (January 19, 1904 – December 19, 1964) was a Russian-born American writer,
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
and producer. Berne was born Josef Berstein on January 19, 1904, in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
(now
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
). He also wrote and directed
Yiddish language
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
dramas.
allmovie
/ref>
He directed 32 films between 1933 and 1950, most of which were short films.
He died on December 19, 1964, aged 60 in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
.
Selected filmography
* ''La vida bohemia'' (1938)
* ''Mirele Efros
''Mirele Efros'' (also anglicised as Mireleh Efros) was an 1898 Yiddish play by Jacob Gordin. Some have called it "the Jewish Queen Lear".
The title character is a powerful matriarch who becomes bitterly estranged from her own family. Lulla Ro ...
'' (1939) an adaptation of Yiddish play by Jacob Gordin
Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and nat ...
of the same name
* ''Jam Session
A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...
'' (1942)
* ''Turkey in the Straw'' (1942), short film starring Freddie Fisher
* ''Heavenly Music
''Heavenly Music'' is a 1943 American musical short film, short fantasy film directed by Josef Berne. It won an Academy Awards, Oscar at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944 for Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, Best Short Subject (Two ...
'' (1943) won Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for Best Short Subject
* ''Lucky Cowboy
''Lucky Cowboy'' is a 1944 American two-reel Western film directed by Josef Berne using a screenplay by Robert Stephen Brode. The film starred Eddie Dew, Julie Gibson, Bob Kortman, and LeRoy Mason
LeRoy Franklin Mason (July 2, 1903 &ndas ...
'' (1944)
* ''They Live in Fear'' (1944)
* ''Down Missouri Way
''Down Missouri Way'' is a 1946 American musical film directed by Josef Berne and written by Sam Neuman. The film stars Martha O'Driscoll, John Carradine, Eddie Dean, William Wright, Roscoe Karns and Renee Godfrey. The film was released on Augu ...
'' (1946)
References
External links
*
1904 births
1964 deaths
Film directors from California
{{US-film-director-1900s-stub