Roman Polanski Biography

Reunited with his father, in 1945, Polanski went on to study at the Polish State Film School from 1954 to 1959, where his early short films were well received. His first feature film, 'Knife in the Water' (1962), was a breakthrough, eliciting international acclaim and prompting the director to leave Poland for England.

In England he directed 'Repulsion'' (1965), 'Cul-de-Sac' (1966) and 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967), the American version of which was re-cut by the producers and disowned by Polanski. Soon after, the migratory Polanski moved to the United States, where he directed the cult horror, Rosemary's Baby (1968).

In 1969 tragedy struck again, when the Manson Family murdered Polanski’s then-pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, at the couple's mansion in Hollywood Hills. The darkened tones of Polanski’s macabre 'Macbeth ' reflects the trauma of this experience, as do the scenes of violence in the film which are reminiscent of the tragedy.

In 1974 Polanski filmed his seminal classic, the noirish 'Chinatown', starring Jack Nicholson. But only a few years later he was convicted of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, and he fled to France to escape imprisonment.

In exile in Europe, Polanski abandoned the cinema, returning to film in 1986 with his idiosyncratic swashbuckler spoof, 'Pirates'.

In 2002, Polanski directed 'The Pianist', a personal tale of Holocaust survival that won him a Best Director Oscar that the fugitive director was unable to collect, due to the US conviction.