“Douglas Sirk originally Hans Detlef Sierck: (1900-1987) German-U.S. film director. He was artistic director of several theaters in Bremen (1923-29) and Leipzig (1929-36) and made several films before fleeing Germany in 1937. He arrived in Hollywood in 1939 and received minor directing assignments until he joined Universal Pictures in 1950. There he directed comedy, western, and war movies but was best known for such popular melodramas as Magnificent Obsession (1954), There’s Always Tomorrow (1956), Written on the Wind (1956), and The Tarnished Angels (1957). After directing his greatest success, Imitation of Life (1959), he retired to Germany.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Mark's Text Terminal 