Biography
Joe Pasternak (also credited as Joseph Pasternak) was a Hungarian-born American film producer. Born in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary (now Romania), he emigrated to the United States as a teenager in 1920. He began in the film industry as an assistant director at Paramount before moving to Universal, where he worked in Europe and later produced in Hollywood.
At Universal he produced Three Smart Girls (1936), starring Deanna Durbin, which helped the studio avoid bankruptcy. He went on to produce nine further films with Durbin and other successes such as Destry Rides Again (1939). Later at MGM he produced musicals including Anchors Aweigh (1945), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Summer Stock (1950) and Love Me or Leave Me (1955).
Pasternak's career spanned four decades and more than 100 films, mostly musicals. He received two Academy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations. He retired in 1968 after developing Parkinson's disease and died in 1991.
