Roman Polanski

Directing · 2.0 popularity

Age

Movies

121

Born: August 18, 1933
From: Paris, France

Biography

Roman Polański (born 18 August 1933) is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor. Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polański relocated with his family to Poland in 1937. After surviving the Holocaust, he continued his education in Poland and became a critically acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films. Polański's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, and in 2002 received the Academy Award for Best Director for his film, The Pianist. He has also been the recipient of two Baftas, four Césars, a Golden Globe and the Palme d'Or. He left Poland in 1961 to live in France for several years, then moved to the United Kingdom where he collaborated with Gérard Brach on three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States, immediately cementing his burgeoning directing status with the 1968 groundbreaking Academy Award winning horror film Rosemary's Baby. In 1969, Polański's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered while staying at the Polańskis' Benedict Canyon home above Los Angeles by members of the Manson Family. Following Tate's death, Polański returned to Europe and spent much of his time in Paris and Gstaad, but did not make another film until he filmed Macbeth (1971) in England. The following year he went to Italy to make What? (1973) and subsequently spent the next five years living near Rome. However, he traveled to Hollywood to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and was a critical and box-office success; the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay. Polański's next film, The Tenant (1976), was shot in France, and completed the "Apartment Trilogy", following Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. In 1977, after a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Polański was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 13 year old girl. He was charged with rape but pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. To avoid sentencing, Polański fled to his home in London, and then moved on to France the following day. He has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since then, and an international arrest warrant since 2005. Polański continued to make films such as The Pianist (2002), a World War II-set adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman's autobiography of the same name, which echoed some of Polański's earlier life experiences. Like Szpilman, Polański escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps while family members were killed. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and seven French César Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. He then released the successful films Oliver Twist (2005), To Each His Own Cinema (2007), and The Ghost Writer (2010), completed while under house arrest. In September 2009, Polański was arrested by Swiss police, at the request of U.S. authorities, when he traveled to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. In October 2009, the U.S. requested his extradition; however, on July 12, 2010, the Swiss rejected that request and instead declared him a "free man" after releasing him from custody.

Works

121 films

Rush Hour 3

20076.5

Chinatown

19747.9

An Officer and a Spy

20197.1

Ciné regards: Tess: Roman Polanski

1979

The Tenant

19767.6

Carnage

20117.2

The Fearless Vampire Killers

19677.0

Repulsion

19657.4

Frantic

19886.7

Chaos: The Manson Murders

20256.1

Breakdown: 1975

20256.8

The Magic Christian

19695.8

Knife in the Water

19627.3

A Special Day

20126.0

Seduced and Abandoned

20136.2

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

20086.3

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

20146.7

A Pure Formality

19947.4

In The Tracks Of - Alexandre Desplat

20202.0

What?

19725.4

Blood for Dracula

19745.7

Kanal

19577.7

Playboy: The Story of X

19986.8

Dead Tired

19946.0

Quiet Chaos

20086.5

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans

20157.2

Heart of the Festival

20026.5

La scripte

2026

Mansfield 66/67

20174.8

Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind

20196.7

The Unbeatable Bruce Lee

20018.4

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

20037.1

A Generation

19557.0

Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir

20126.5

The Revenge

20025.7

Close Up

20129.5

Con bravura

1972

On the Trail of the New Wave

2009

Light Keeps Me Company

20007.9

Polanski, Horowitz. The Wizards From the Ghetto

20216.2

Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life

20107.8

Henri Langlois vu par...

20144.0

Innocent Sorcerers

19607.0

Being Bo Widerberg

20258.0

Lionpower from MGM

19676.3

Elle s'appelait Françoise

19969.0

Memories of a Young Pianist

20095.0

Goodbye, Till Tomorrow

19606.6

Dracula in the Movies

199210.0

The New Cinema

1968

Elvis: That's the Way It Is

19708.1

Polanski, le travail à l'oeuvre

20196.0

Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time

19925.2

Weekend of a Champion

19727.3

Remembering 'Rosemary's Baby'

20126.0

Tonite Let's All Make Love in London

19674.5

Two Gangsters and an Island

20037.5

Last Pictures

2000

Polanski Meets Macbeth

1972

Sharon Tate: Murdered Innocence

20026.5

Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light

20256.2

Deneuve, la reine Catherine

20227.8

Polanski par Polanski

2006

Komeda, Komeda...

2012

Bad Luck

19606.8

Valerie

20193.0

Lotna

19595.8

Toil And Trouble: Making 'Macbeth'

20145.0

Back in the USSR

19925.0

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

20077.8

When Angels Fall

19596.6

The Stalking Moon

2026

Empire of the Censors

19955.3

Wraki

19575.1

Tess: From Novel to Screen

20048.0

The Family

20236.0

Godzina bez słońca

19551.0

Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là

20107.2

The Nomad

1967

Trzy starty

19557.0

Mia and Roman

19686.0

The River of Diamonds

19647.5

Nikodem Dyzma

19564.7

Françoise Dorléac, une promesse

20186.0

The Evolution of Snuff

19783.9

Once Upon a Time... 'Tess'

20076.0

Tribute to Alfred Lepetit

20005.0

Polanski y los ojos del mal

20028.0

The Ten Commandments of Creativity

20008.3

Bicycle

20085.0

Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out

20126.0

Two Men and a Wardrobe

19586.4

Face of Evil: The Charles Manson Murders

20152.0

Il falso bugiardo

2008

Three Stories

19535.0

Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage

19675.0

What Will My Wife Say to This?

19583.3

Samson

19614.8

Weekend of a Champion

20136.6

Filming 'Tess'

20049.0

Ciao, Federico!

19707.2

Tess: The Experience

20048.5

A British Horror Film

20035.6

Ostrożnie yeti

19613.8

Chassé-croisé

19823.0

Dracula: The True Story

19976.5

Twist by Polanski

20063.0

Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective

20005.0

Magical Bicycle

19554.5

The Last Days of Sharon Tate

1999

Koniec nocy

19574.8

Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort

20218.0

Knife in the Water: A Ticket to the West

20038.0

The Lamp

19596.0

En attendant Godot

19895.0

Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski

19952.0

Clive James Meets Roman Polanski

1984

The Fat and the Lean

19616.1

Cracow by Polanski

2010

The Best of Twist: Sets, Costumes & Photography

20063.0

Roman by Polanski

2015