Eric Pleskow, onetime holocaust refugee then Head of Orion Pictures and producer of many Academy Award winning films is interviewed at Stamford's Bartlett Arboretum

The Stamford Arboretum was packed with an audience of over 100 people to hear nonagenerian Eric Pleskow highlight his amazing career which saw him rise from a refugee of the Holocaust to head a top Hollywood motion picture studio. He was interviewed by his son Tony and daughter Michelle.

Eric Pleskow at the Stamford Arboretum
Sunday, December 14th

He described his escape from Vienna on the last train to depart just days before the Nazi Anschluss in 1938. At the border of Germany and France, Nazi officials pulled a Jewish family off the train only to physically mar them (including gouging out eyes) in front of Pleskow and others.

Once in New York, he attended George Washington High School in NYC's Washington Heights (at the same time as Henry Kissinger) without understanding a word of English.  He got an early break by working at a firm that was making documentary films. He enlisted in the Army and after the war he was assigned to Munich. Here, he was instrumental in opening up over 800 movie theaters in Germany to disseminate US films and propaganda.

Back in the States he rose very quickly at United Artists (UA) and became president in 1973. His studio won the Academy Award for best picture three years in a row (1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 1976, Rocky: 1977, Annie Hall).  Cuckoo's Nest garnered five Academy Awards.

He left UA in 1978 to build up Orion Picture where he presided until 1992. Under his aegis, his successes included Amadeus, Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs.

Movie Posters of Pleskow's 

successful films 

He ascribes his success by always agreeing to do jobs that he knew might be beyond his grasp. He succeeded at these projects by teaching himself on- the- job skills needed to succeed.

Ironically, after being entreated over many years by a Viennese journalist to return to Vienna, Pleskow assumed the Presidency of the annual Viennese movie festival, the Viennale, beginning in 1998.

You will be able to watch the entire interview on the Jewish Broadcasting Network (formerly Shalom TV) as soon as they air it. (Check with them).  DVD copies will also be available at the Harry Rosenbaum JHS Judaica Library at the Stamford JCC in the near future.

Kudos to the Jewish Historical Society of Fairfield County and Selah, the Reconstructionist Synagogue, for this stimulating and excellent program.