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George Pal in 1979
George Pal (February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980), born György Pál Marczincsak[1], was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe. He was nominated for Academy Awards (in the category Best short subjects, Cartoon) no less than seven consecutive years (1942–1948) and received an honorary award in 1944. This makes him the second most nominated Hungarian exile (together with William S. Darling and Ernest Laszlo) after Miklós Rózsa.
Life and career[]
He was born in Cegléd, Austria–Hungary, the son of György Pál Marczincsak Sr.[citation needed] and his wife Maria. He graduated from the Budapest Academy of Arts in 1928. From 1928 to 1931, he made films for Hunnia Films of Budapest, Hungary.
In 1931 he married Elisabeth "Zsoka" Grandjean, and moving to Berlin, founded Trickfilm-Studio Gmbh Pal und Wittke, with UFA Studios as its main customer from 1931 to 1933. During this time, he patented Pal-Doll (known as Puppetoons in the USA).
In 1933 he worked in Prague; in 1934, he made a film advertisement in his hotel room in Paris, and was invited by Philips to make two more ad shorts. He started to use Pal-Doll techniques in Eindhoven, in a former butchery, then at villa-studio Suny Home.
He made five films before 1949 for the British company Horlicks Malted Milk. He left Germany as the Nazis came to power. In 1940, he emigrated from Europe, and began work for Paramount Pictures. At this time, his friend Walter Lantz helped him obtain American citizenship.
As an animator, he made the Puppetoons series in the 1940s, then switched to live action film making with The Great Rupert in 1950. He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1944 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons".
He is best remembered as the producer of landmark science fiction films in the 1960s and 1970s, four of which were collaborations with director Byron Haskin. His background with the whimsical Puppetoons set the foundation for the imaginative production designs for his films during this period.
He died in Beverly Hills, California of a heart attack at the age of 73, and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. The Voyage of the Berg, on which he was working at the time, was never completed.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine St. In 1980 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founded the "George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film" series in his memory.