Artistic, witty, but unpretentious and straightforward by nature, Andre de Toth began directing in 1939 in his native Hungary. By 1943, he was working in Hollywood. His striking anti-Nazi drama None Shall Escape (1944) was one of the few of its time to depict not just Nazi war crimes, but the rise of the Nazi spirit in realistic, documentary-style flashbacks. It was also unique on American screens in imagining a post-war war crimes trial – with a jury that was not totally white. The noir classics Dark Waters, Pitfall, and Crime Wave followed, along with the popular 3-D feature, House of Wax, and a series of much-praised Westerns. He was Oscar-nominated for his original story for The Gunfighter.

With their intelligent plotlines and adult themes, these movies were anything but Saturday Matinee fare. Their realistic portrayals of anti-heroes in many different genres often flouted established Hollywood conventions by killing off the leading men. Play Dirty, Andre's devastating WWII drama with Michael Caine, was his last directorial effort in 1968. In 1995 he was awarded the Life Achievement Prize by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and published his memoir, Fragments: Portraits from the Inside.

Join former DGA President and Chair Emeritus of the Special Projects Committee Robert Wise and film critic, director, producer and Special Projects Committee member, Richard Schickel and others to honor the adventurous spirit of an uncompromising iconoclast.