Branko Lustig
{{Short description|Croatian film producer (1932–2019)}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Branko Lustig (2009)-1.jpg
| caption = Lustig at the LAMOTH 2nd Annual Dinner in 2009
| image_size =
| name = Branko Lustig
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|6|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Osijek, Sava Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|11|14|1932|6|10|df=y}}
| death_place = Zagreb, Croatia
| occupation = Film producer
| parents = {{plainlist|
- Mirko Lustig
- Vilma Gütter}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Mirjana Lustig|1970}}
| children = 1
}}
Branko Lustig (10 June 1932 – 14 November 2019) was a Croatian film producer best known for winning Academy Awards for Best Picture for Schindler's List and Gladiator. He is the only person born in the territory of present-day Croatia to have won two Academy Awards.
Early life
Lustig was born in Osijek, Kingdom of Yugoslavia to a Croatian Jewish family. His father, Mirko, was head-waiter at an Osijek Café Central, and his mother, Vilma (Gütter), was a housewife. Lustig's grandparents, unlike his parents, were religious and he regularly attended the local synagogue with them.{{cite web|url=http://www.gloria.com.hr/intervju/showpage.php?id=8033|title=Moj put od logora do Hollywooda|work=Gloria|language=hr|access-date=21 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006004739/http://www.gloria.com.hr/intervju/showpage.php?id=8033|archive-date=6 October 2011|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/branko-lustig---film-schindlerova-lista--posveta-stevena-spielberga-svoj-djeci-koja-su-ubijena-u-holokaustu/944193|title=S Oscarovcem Lustigom na bar micvi u Auschwitzu: Mazel tov, Branko!|work=Jutarnji list|language=hr|access-date=8 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510152237/http://www.jutarnji.hr/branko-lustig---film-schindlerova-lista--posveta-stevena-spielberga-svoj-djeci-koja-su-ubijena-u-holokaustu/944193|archive-date=10 May 2011|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/movies/branko-lustig-dead.html|title = Branko Lustig, 87, Dies; Holocaust Survivor Turned Film Producer|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 21 November 2019|last1 = Sandomir|first1 = Richard}}
During World War II, as a child he was imprisoned for two years in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Most members of his family perished in the death camps throughout Europe, including his grandmother who was killed in the gas chamber, while his father was killed in Čakovec on 15 March 1945. Lustig's mother survived the Holocaust and was reunited with him after the war.{{cite news|last1=Flax|first1=Peter|last2=Baum|first2=Gary|last3=Roxborough|first3=Scott|last4=Guthrie|first4=Marisa|last5=Lewis|first5=Andy|title=Hollywood's Last Survivors of the Holocaust share their stories|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/holocaust-survivors/branko_lustig/|access-date=16 December 2015|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=16 December 2015}} On the day of the liberation, he weighed only 66 pounds (29.94 kg).{{cite web|url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/film/clanak/art-2007,4,19,lustig_hollywood,71075.jl|title=U Hollywoodu održana večer posvećena Branku Lustigu|work=Jutarnji list|language=hr|access-date=10 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528084740/http://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/film/clanak/art-2007,4,19,lustig_hollywood,71075.jl|archive-date=28 May 2009|url-status=live}} Lustig credited his survival in Auschwitz to a German officer who happened to be from the same suburb of Osijek as Lustig. He overheard Lustig crying and asked him who his father was. It turned out the officer had known Lustig's father.{{YouTube|SdVNxLCsC4U|Branko Lustig: Plakao sam Hrvatski (Crying in Croatian)}}, Nova TV Interview, October 2010.{{cite web|url=http://dnevnik.hr/showbizz/film-tv/branko-lustig-logorovao-sam-s-annom-frank.html|title=Branko Lustig: 'Logorovao sam s Annom Frank'|date=22 May 2009|work=Dnevnik.hr|language=hr|access-date=26 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326225553/http://dnevnik.hr/showbizz/film-tv/branko-lustig-logorovao-sam-s-annom-frank.html|archive-date=26 March 2017|url-status=live}}
Movie career
Lustig began his film career in 1955 as an assistant director at Jadran Film, a state-owned Zagreb-based film production company. In 1956 he worked as a unit production manager on Branko Bauer's World War II drama Ne okreći se sine, winner of three Golden Arena awards at the 1956 Pula Film Festival. Lustig was the location manager for Fiddler on the Roof (1971).{{cite web|url=http://www.cinema.com/people/004/409/branko-lustig/index.phtml|title=Branko Lustig|website=www.cinema.com|access-date=20 August 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826053945/http://www.cinema.com/people/004/409/branko-lustig/index.phtml|archive-date=26 August 2006|url-status=dead}} In the 1980s Lustig worked on the miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and its sequel War and Remembrance (1988). He moved to the United States in 1988.
Lustig received his first Oscar in 1993 for the production of Schindler's List, a film based on the novel of Thomas Keneally (which is, in turn, based on the true-life story of a German manufacturer who saved hundreds of Jews during World War II). Lustig himself had a cameo early in the film as a nightclub maitre d’. In July 2015, Lustig presented the Oscar to Yad Vashem for eternal safekeeping.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/branko-lustig-schindlers-list-producer-donates-oscar-yad-vashem-n396556|title=Branko Lustig, 'Schindler's List' Producer, Donates Oscar to Yad Vashem|website=NBC News|date=22 July 2015 |access-date=7 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722075154/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/branko-lustig-schindlers-list-producer-donates-oscar-yad-vashem-n396556|archive-date=22 July 2018|url-status=live}} He received his second Oscar for the epic movie Gladiator about a struggle for power in Imperial Rome, in 2001. Other major Hollywood films that Lustig worked on as a producer or executive producer include The Peacemaker (1997), Hannibal (2001), and Black Hawk Down (2001). In 2008, Lustig helped establish an independent production company Six Point Films to produce "meaningful, thought-provoking independent films".
Personal life and death
In 1994 Lustig received the Order of Duke Trpimir by President Franjo Tuđman for his work in film.{{cite web|url=http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/2007/04/20/Clanak.asp?r=kul&c=1|title=Hollywoodska večer za Branka Lustiga|work=Vjesnik|language=hr|access-date=10 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528080625/http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/2007/04/20/Clanak.asp?r=kul&c=1|archive-date=28 May 2009|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/1994_04_27_486.html|title=Odluka o dodjeli Ordena kneza Trpimira|website=narodne-novine.nn.hr|access-date=2020-02-10}} In 2008 he became the first filmmaker ever, and second in the field of the arts (preceded by Vladimir Nazor), to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zagreb.{{cite web|url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/zagreb/clanak/art-2008,7,10,,126081.jl|title=Oskarovac predavač na Akademiji|last=Penić|first=Goran|work=Jutarnji list|language=hr|access-date=10 July 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080711050602/http://www.jutarnji.hr/zagreb/clanak/art-2008%2C7%2C10%2C%2C126081.jl|archive-date=11 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust honored Branko Lustig together with Andreas Maislinger at his 2nd Annual Dinner on 8 November 2009 at the Beverly Hills Hotel for his long-time commitment to Holocaust education and commemoration. Lustig is honorary president and one of the founding members of the Jewish Movie Festival in Zagreb.{{cite web|url=http://www.jff-zagreb.hr/hr|title=Festival Židovskog filma Zagreb|work=www.jff-zagreb.hr|language=hr|access-date=9 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601004328/http://www.jff-zagreb.hr/hr/|archive-date=1 June 2011|df=dmy-all}} On 16 September 2010, he was awarded honorary citizenship of Osijek.{{cite web|url=http://www.osijek.hr/index.php/cro/Novosti/BRANKO-LUSTIG-PRIMIO-PRIZNANJE-POCASNOG-GRADANINA-GRADA-OSIJEKA|title=Branko Lustig primio priznanje počasnog građanina grada Osijeka|work=Osijek.hr|language=hr|date=16 September 2010|access-date=16 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004052739/http://www.osijek.hr/index.php/cro/Novosti/BRANKO-LUSTIG-PRIMIO-PRIZNANJE-POCASNOG-GRADANINA-GRADA-OSIJEKA|archive-date=4 October 2011|df=dmy-all}}
Lustig celebrated his bar mitzvah on 2 May 2011 at Auschwitz, in front of barrack No. 24a. He missed his rite of passage as a 13-year-old because at the time he was a prisoner in the very same barrack, having been deported from Osijek when he was ten years old. The bar mitzvah ceremony was held during a March of the Living educational tour of Poland and Israel for high school students.Torok, Ryan. [http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/schindlers_list_producer_named_mensch "‘Schindler’s List’ producer named Mensch"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824160340/http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/schindlers_list_producer_named_mensch |date=24 August 2016 }}, jewishjournal.com, 6 February 2013; accessed 6 February 2013.
Lustig resided between Los Angeles and Zagreb, and called both of the cities his home, although in the Jutarnji list interview from September, 2012 he stated: "But more and more, slowly, I am returning to Zagreb. I'm coming back."{{cite web|url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/branko-lustig---intervju--bio-sam-nedavno-u-auschwitzu-i-bilo-me-je-sram--bilo-je-10-000-ljudi-i-tamo-su-vijorile-sve-zastave-svijeta--osim-zastave-moje-hrvatske/1055217|title=Lustig: 'Bio sam nedavno u Auschwitzu i bilo me je sram! Vijorile su se sve zastave svijeta. Osim moje Hrvatske'|work=Jutarnji list|language=hr|access-date=22 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924103022/http://www.jutarnji.hr/branko-lustig---intervju--bio-sam-nedavno-u-auschwitzu-i-bilo-me-je-sram--bilo-je-10-000-ljudi-i-tamo-su-vijorile-sve-zastave-svijeta--osim-zastave-moje-hrvatske/1055217/|archive-date=24 September 2012|url-status=live}} In the 2017 local elections Lustig was elected member of the Zagreb City Assembly as a candidate of Milan Bandić's party list{{cite web|url=http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/u-zagrebacku-skupstinu-ulaze-ana-rucner-kalember-branko-lustig-ljerka-mintas-hodak---477420.html|title=U ZG skupštinu ulaze poznata glazbenica, bivše ministrice, proslavljeni filmski producent...|work=dnevnik.hr|language=hr|access-date=23 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522145221/http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/u-zagrebacku-skupstinu-ulaze-ana-rucner-kalember-branko-lustig-ljerka-mintas-hodak---477420.html|archive-date=22 May 2017|url-status=live}} but eventually did not take his seat.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}
Lustig died in Zagreb on 14 November 2019, aged 87.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/life/umro-branko-lustig-dvostruki-dobitnik-oscara-napustio-nas-je-u-88-godini/9614623/|title=UMRO BRANKO LUSTIG Dvostruki dobitnik Oscara napustio nas je u 88. godini - Jutarnji List|website=www.jutarnji.hr|date=14 November 2019|access-date=2019-11-14}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/11/14/world/europe/ap-eu-croatia-obit-lustig.html|title="Schindler's List" Producer Branko Lustig Dies at 87|date=2019-11-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-14|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/schindlers-list-producer-branko-lustig-dies-87-67015227|title="Schindler's List" producer Branko Lustig dies at 87|website=ABC News|language=en|access-date=2019-11-14}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/branko-lustig-dead-schindlers-list-gladiator-producer-dies-at-87-1254800|title=Branko Lustig, Oscar-Winning Producer of 'Schindler's List' and Holocaust Survivor, Dies at 87|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=14 November 2019}}
Lustig's life was remembered in BBC Radio 4's obituary programme Last Word in December 2019.{{cite episode| title= Last Word: Kenny Lynch OBE, Chris Moncrieff CBE, Kate Figes, Branko Lustig| series= Last Word| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000c8rd| credits= Presenter: Matthew Bannister; Contributor: Michael Goldfarb; Producer: Neil George| network= BBC| station= BBC Radio 4| airdate= 22 December 2019| minutes= 13:35| access-date= 22 December 2019}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Kozara | A German wounded in the eyes | {{Cite web|title=Branko Lustig|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0527322/|access-date=2021-04-26|website=IMDb}} |
| 1975 | Anno Domini 1573 | Bringer of the execution crown | |
| 1984 | Memed, My Hawk | Prison Guard | |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | Nightclub Maitre d' | |
| 1997 | The Peacemaker | Man with Poodle | (final film role) |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0527322|Branko Lustig}}
- {{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/branko-return-to-auschwitz.html|title='Branko: Return to Auschwitz'|last=Adizes|first=Topaz|date=14 April 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=15 April 2013|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
- {{Cite web|url=https://www.nacional.hr/intervju-branko-lustig-djeca-danas-znaju-o-holokaustu-malo-vise-ali-knin-je-iznimka/|title=Intervju: Branko Lustig: 'djeca Danas Znaju O Holokaustu Malo Više, Ali Knin Je Iznimka'|date=27 January 2016|website=Nacional|language=hr|access-date=14 November 2019}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Branko Lustig
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{{Academy Award Best Picture Producers}}
{{BAFTA Best Film recipients}}
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Category:Film people from Los Angeles
Category:Croatian film producers
Category:Croatian expatriates in the United States
Category:Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award
Category:Golden Globe Award–winning producers
Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Category:Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors
Category:Order of Duke Trpimir recipients