Sam Spiegel

Born in Germany he went to America some time before the second World War and spent a year in Hollywood reading foreign scripts after which he returned to Berlin where he set up his own company to organise the remaking of foreign films into German language versions One he handled was All Quiet on the Western Front an anti war film that became a kind of personal crusade for him On the opening night the Nazis then in power put a bomb in the cinema When the Nazis came into power he left Germany and divided his time between Britain France and America He changed his name to the more international sounding SP Eagle but changed it back when with On the Waterfront he realised hed made a film to which any man would be proud to put his name