Former assistant to German stage producer Max Reinhardt who began his directing career with the 1935 Broadway melodrama, "Libel". Preminger then directed a couple of B films at 20th Century-Fox before a dispute with Darryl F. Zanuck temporarily halted his behind-the-camera career. When he found himself in demand as an actor--Preminger's stern features and Viennese accent made him the perfect screen Nazi--he used this new popularity to maneuver his way back into the director's chair. Preminger made his breakthrough with the critical and commercial smash, "Laura" (1944), on which he took over
Acting debut at age 12, the only child among adults at a poetry reading
Apprenticed at Max Reinhardt's Theater, Josefstadt in Vienna
Stage debut as Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Josefstadt Theater (not directed by Reinhardt) at age 17
1925
Joined German theater in Aussig (now in Czechoslavakia) where he also made his directorial debut with a production of Klabund's "Kreiderkreis/The Chalk Circle"
Returned to Vienna to launch theater of his own, the Komedia and two years later, the Schauspielhaus while simultaneously studying law at the University of Vienna
