Born July 7, 1899, in New York City, George Cukor often cut classes to attend Broadway matinees while growing up. By the time Hollywood began recruiting Big Apple talent for its newborn talkies, Cukor was already a respected stage director.

Cukor moved to Los Angeles in 1929, and in 1931 he helmed his first feature, the Tallulah Bankhead vehicle Tarnished Lady. Soon after, he went to work for RKO Studios, where he made a string of successful films, including Dinner at Eight (1933) and Camille (1936). It was also during this period that Cukor first worked with Katharine Hepburn in a partnership that resulted in 10 movies -- including Little Women and The Philadelphia Story -- and cemented his reputation as a "woman's director."

In 1954, Cukor made his first musical and first color film, A Star Is Born, and in 1965 he won an Oscar for My Fair Lady. He died of heart failure Jan. 24, 1983.