Biography
Martin Ritt (2 March 1914 – 8 December 1990) was an American film director, producer and actor. Born in New York City, he began his career in theatre with the Group Theatre and later worked as an assistant to Elia Kazan. His early television directing was curtailed by the Hollywood blacklist in the early 1950s.
Ritt made his feature debut with Edge of the City (1957). He went on to direct a series of socially conscious dramas and literary adaptations, including The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Hud (1963), The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) and Norma Rae (1979). In 1972 he directed Sounder, an adaptation of the William H. Armstrong novel set in the Depression-era South.
Several of his films received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture or Best Director. Ritt also guided numerous performers to Oscar recognition across his career.
