Curt Siodmak (August 10, 1902 – September 2, 2000) was a German-American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and screenwriter. He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as '' The Wolf Man'' and '' Donovan's Brain'' (the latter adapted from his novel of the same name). He was the younger brother of noir director

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as ''The Killers'' (194 ...

Life and career

Siodmak was born Kurt Siodmak in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the son of Rosa Philippine (née Blum) and Ignatz Siodmak. His parents were both from Jewish families in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Siodmak acquired a degree in mathematics before beginning to write novels. He invested early royalties earned by his first books in the 1929 movie '' Menschen am Sonntag'', a documentary-style chronicle of the lives of four Berliners on a Sunday based on their own lives. The movie was co-directed by Curt Siodmak's older brother

and Edgar G. Ulmer, with a script by

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hol ...

in collaboration with

Fred Zinnemann Alfred ''Fred'' Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an Austrian Empire-born American film director. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir and pla ...

and cameraman Eugen Schüfftan. Siodmak was the nephew of film producer

Seymour Nebenzal Seymour Nebenzal (22 July 1899 – 23 September 1961) was an American-born Jewish-German film producer. He produced 46 films between 1927 and 1961. Biography Germany He got into film production through his father Heinrich Nebenzahl (1870– ...

, who funded ''Menschen am Sonntag'' with funds borrowed from his father, Heinrich Nebenzahl. In the following years Siodmak wrote many novels, screenplays, and short stories, including the novel '' F.P.1 antwortet nicht'' (''F.P.1 Doesn't Answer'') (1932) which was adapted into a film featuring Hans Albers and

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

. Siodmak decided to emigrate after hearing an anti-Semitic tirade by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and departed for England where he made a living as a screenwriter before moving to the United States in 1937. His big break in Hollywood came with the screenplay for '' The Wolf Man'' (1941), starring

Lon Chaney, Jr. Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...

, which established this fictional creature as the most popular movie monster after Dracula and

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

. In the film, Siodmak created several

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

"legends" — being marked by a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

; being practically immortal apart from being struck/shot by silver implements/bullets; and the famous verse: ::Even a man who is pure in heart, ::And says his prayers by night ::May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms ::And the autumn moon is bright (The last line was changed in the sequels to "And the moon is full and bright".) Siodmak's science-fiction novel '' Donovan's Brain'' (1942) was a bestseller that was translated into many languages and was adapted for the cinema several times, beginning in 1943 with ''

The Lady and the Monster ''The Lady and the Monster'' is a 1944 American science fiction horror film directed by George Sherman, and starring Vera Ralston, Richard Arlen, and Erich von Stroheim. The film is about the attempts to keep alive the brain of a multimillionaire ...

,'' then 1953's '' Donovan's Brain'' and 1962's ''

The Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ i ...

.'' Other films he wrote the screenplays for include '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'', ''

I Walked with a Zombie ''I Walked with a Zombie'' is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. It stars James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, and follows a Canadian nurse who travels to care for th ...

'' and ''

The Beast with Five Fingers ''The Beast with Five Fingers'' is a 1946 mystery horror film directed by Robert Florey from a screenplay by Curt Siodmak, based on a short story written by W. F. Harvey and first published in 1919 in ''The New Decameron''. The film stars Robe ...

.'' An extensive interview with Siodmak about his career in both Germany and Hollywood is found in Eric Leif Davin's '' Pioneers of Wonder.'' In the plots of his work, Siodmak utilised the latest scientific findings combining those with

pseudo-scientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

motifs like the

Jekyll and Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

complex, the Nazi trauma and the

East–West dichotomy In sociology, the East–West dichotomy is the perceived difference between the Eastern and the Western worlds. Cultural and religious rather than geographical in division, the boundaries of East and West are not fixed, but vary according ...

. In 1998, he won the Berlinale Camera at the

48th Berlin International Film Festival The 48th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1998. The festival opened with the Irish film ''The Boxer'' by Jim Sheridan. Francis Ford Coppola's '' The Rainmaker'' was selected as the closing night film. The ...

. Siodmak died in his sleep on September 2, 2000, at his home in

Three Rivers, California Three Rivers is an unincorporated community in Tulare County, California, United States. Located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada at the edge of the San Joaquin Valley, the town is near the entrance to the national parks of Sequoia and Kin ...

Works

Novels

* ''F.P.1 Doesn't Answer'' (1933) * ''Black Friday'' (1939) * '' Donovan's Brain'' (1942) * ''The Beast with Five Fingers'' (1945) * ''Whomsoever I Shall Kiss'' (1952) * ''Riders to the Stars'' (1954) (

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of the film ''

Riders to the Stars ''Riders to the Stars'' is a 1954 independently made American science fiction film produced by Ivan Tors Productions and released by United Artists. The film was directed by Richard Carlson (who also stars) and Herbert L. Strock (uncredited) a ...

'') * ''Skyport'' (1959) * ''For Kings Only'' (1964) * ''Hauser's Memory'' (1968) * ''The Third Ear'' (1971) * ''City in the Sky'' (1974) * ''Frankenstein Meets Wolfman'' (1981)(

of the film ''

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man ''Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'' is a 1943 American horror film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster. This was the first of a series of later called "monster rallie ...

'') * ''Gabriel's Body'' (1991)

Short stories

* ''The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika'' (1926) * ''Variation of a Theme'' (1972) * ''The P Factor'' (1976) * ''Experiment with Evil'' (1985)

Non fiction

* ''Even a Man Who Is Pure in Heart: The Life of a Writer, Not Always to His Liking'' (1997) * ''Wolf Man's Maker'' (2001) (Posthumous autobiography)

Filmography

Film adaptations

* ', directed by

Alfred Zeisler Alfred Zeisler (September 26, 1892 – March 1, 1985) was an American-born German film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. He produced 29 films between 1927 and 1936. He also directed 16 films between 1924 and 1949. Selected filmogr ...

(1930, based on the novel ''Schuß im Tonfilmatelier'') * '' F.P.1 antwortet nicht'', directed by Karl Hartl (1932, based on the novel ''F.P.1 antwortet nicht'') ** '' I.F.1 ne répond plus'', directed by Karl Hartl (1933, based on the novel ''F.P.1 antwortet nicht'') ** ''

F.P.1 ''F.P.1'' ( ger, F.P.1 antwortet nicht) is a 1932 German film directed by Karl Hartl. The film was based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Kurt Siodmak. The plot concerned a permanent air station in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The fil ...

'', directed by Karl Hartl (1933, based on the novel ''F.P.1 antwortet nicht'') * ''

Girls Will Be Boys ''Girls Will Be Boys'' is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Dolly Haas, Cyril Maude and Esmond Knight. It is based on ''The Last Lord'', a play by Kurt Siodmak. The film was shot at Elstree Studios with sets desig ...

'', directed by

Marcel Varnel Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was French film director, notably however for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Va ...

(1934, based on the play ''The Last Lord'') * ''

'', directed by George Sherman (1944, based on the novel '' Donovan's Brain'') * '' Donovan's Brain'', directed by

Felix E. Feist Felix Ellison Feist (; February 28, 1910 – September 2, 1965) was an American film and television director and writer born in New York City. He is probably best remembered for ''Deluge'' (1933), for writing and directing the film noirs ''The ...

(1953, based on the novel '' Donovan's Brain'') * '' Studio One: Donovan's Brain'' (1955, TV series episode, based on the novel '' Donovan's Brain'') * ''

'', directed by

Freddie Francis Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director. He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer. He started his career with British films such as Jack Cardiff's '' Sons and ...

(1962, based on the novel '' Donovan's Brain'') * '' Hauser's Memory'', directed by Boris Sagal (1970, TV film, based on the novel ''Hauser's Memory'') * ''Der Heiligenschein'', directed by Heinz Schirk (1977, TV film, based on a short story by Curt Siodmak)

References

External links

* *
Siodmak on Siodmak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siodmak, Curt 1902 births 2000 deaths Writers from Dresden 20th-century German novelists German screenwriters German male screenwriters German male short story writers German short story writers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Jewish American writers Exilliteratur writers 20th-century American novelists American science fiction writers American male novelists American male screenwriters German male novelists 20th-century German short story writers 20th-century German male writers 20th-century American male writers Film people from Dresden 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American Jews