Otto Preminger's terrible temper was the stuff of legend from very early on in his movie career. Born in Vienna, the son of a lawyer who became Austria's attorney general, he preferred theatre to law and was soon directing plays under the supervision of Max Reinhardt. But Adolf Hitler's ascendancy led him to flee with his family to America, where he had a hard time of it for a few years. He eventually had a Broadway success, as both director and actor, with a play called "Margin For Error" and did the film version in Hollywood (this was much less successful). He had a contract with Twentieth
… More Century Fox, but was not well liked there until he directed the smash hit "Laura" - a film whose success went against all predictions from the studio front office. He became an independent (based in New York and working internationally) in the 1950s and directed such famous films as "The Man With The Golden Arm", "Bonjour Tristesse", "Anatomy Of A Murder", "Exodus" and "The Cardinal". He also directed a live TV special starring Ginger Rogers and based on the works of Noel Coward. In the 1970s, his film career went into an irreversible decline, but he was well-known as a guest on TV talk shows. He also played Mr. Freeze on "Batman". (The star of that show, Adam West, later said that he was the most difficult and unlikeable of all its guest artists). 
