Unknown · Public domain

A director whose sly, sophisticated comedies of manners gave Hollywood a whole style of filmmaking known simply as "the Lubitsch touch" — a way of implying everything and stating almost nothing, trusting the audience to catch the joke. Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be, a comedy about Nazi-occupied Poland made while the war was still being fought, remain landmarks of the form. He was nominated for the Best Director Oscar three times and received an Honorary Academy Award in 1946 for his contribution to the art of film.