Roman Polanski (b.1933) is a Polish-born French film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polanski grew up in Poland but later became a French citizen. His parents were confined in German concentration camps, where his mother died. The eight-year-old Polanski was left to fend for himself, wandering from family to family.
Polanski established his international reputation with his first full-length film, Knife in the Water (1962.) He subsequently worked in Hollywood and had great success with such films as Repulsion (1965,) Cul de-Sac (1966,) Rosemary’s Baby (1968,) Chinatown (1974,) The Tenant (1976,) and the holocaust movie The Pianist (2002,) for which he won an Oscar.
Polanski remains a fugitive from justice—the American police have sought him since 1977 after he fled the United States before a possible prison term for an affair with a 13-year-old girl.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Roman Polanski
It’s easy to direct while acting; there’s one less person to argue with.
—Roman Polanski
Topics: Acting
Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
—Roman Polanski
If you have a great passion it seems that the logical thing is to see the fruit of it, and the fruit are children.
—Roman Polanski
Topics: Children
Every failure made me more confident. Because I wanted even more to achieve as revenge. To show that I could.
—Roman Polanski
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Steven Spielberg American Film Director
Jean-luc Godard French-born Swiss Film Director
Clint Eastwood American Film Director
Akira Kurosawa Japanese Film Director
Federico Fellini Italian Filmmaker
Alfred Hitchcock British-born American Film Director
Stanley Kubrick American Film Director
Sylvester Stallone American Actor
Sacha Guitry French Actor, Dramatist
Cecil B. DeMille American Film Producer