Sir Alexander Korda (September 16 1893 - January 23 1956) was a Hungarian-born film director and producer. He was a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films.

The elder brother of future filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent Korda, Korda was born as Sándor László Kellner of Jewish heritage in Pusztatúrpásztó in Austria-Hungary (now Hungary), where he worked as a journalist (supporting the Hungarian Soviet Republic) before going into films as a producer. He also worked in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Hollywood, becoming director of United Artists. He worked closely with many artists on his films, including his Hungarian friend, painter and set designer Emile Lahner.

The first film Korda made in the United States, in 1927, was titled The Stolen Bride. By 1932 he made 16 more films in the U.S. The last one, Service for Ladies, was made in 1931 and released in 1932 after Korda had already relocated to London. In 1936 he became a British national.

It was in Britain, however, that he made the biggest impression, and in 1932 he founded London Films, soon to build studios at Denham, financed by Prudential, which eventually became a part of the Rank Organisation. His films were lavish and (after the advent of colour) visually striking. They included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Rembrandt (1936), both of which starred Charles Laughton, who was also to have appeared in the ill-fated I, Claudius (1937).

In 1942, Korda became the first film director ever to be knighted. Among his greatest successes as producer were The Four Feathers (1939), Q Planes (1939), The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and The Third Man (1949). The Red Shoes was also originally meant to be a Korda film and vehicle for his future wife Merle Oberon. It became a J. Arthur Rank film and was eventually made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger instead, starring Moira Shearer.

One of a large group of Hungarian refugees who found refuge in England in the 1930s, Sir Alexander Korda was the first British film producer to receive a knighthood. He was a major, if controversial, figure and acted as a guiding force behind the British film industry of the 1930s and continued to influence British films until his death in 1956. He learned his trade by working in studios in Austria, Germany and America and was a crafty and flamboyant businessman. He started his production company, London Films, in 1933 and one of its first films Private Life of Henry VIII., The (1933), received an Oscar nomination as best picture and won the Best Actor Oscar for its star, Charles Laughton. Helped by his brothers Zoltan Korda (director) and Vincent Korda (art director) and other expatriate Hungarians, London Films produced some of Britain's finest films (even if they weren't all commercial successes). Korda's willingness to experiment and be daring allowed the flowering of such talents as Michael Powell (I) and Emeric Pressburger and gave early breaks to people such as Laurence Olivier, David Lean (I) and Carol Reed (I). Korda sold his library to television in the 1950s, thus allowing London Films' famous logo of Big Ben to become familiar to a new generation of film enthusiasts.

British director and producer of Hungarian origin. He began his career as a staff member of Független Magyarország (Independent Hungary). In 1911-12 he reported from Paris. He helped to establish the position of film critic as the reviewer for Movie News (Mozgófénykép Híradó). In 1912 he edited the film column of Life of the Stage (Színházi Élet). He was founder and editor of Pesti Mozi from October 1912 to May 1913, then started A mozi (1913) and Mozihét (1915-18) under the pseudonym of Sursum. He developed a notable theoretical oeuvre as a film critic. He directed his first film in 1914 together with Gyula Zilahi for his Tricolor company. In 1915 he shot for Nemzeti Co., then for Korona. In 1916 'Jenõ Janovics' gave him an engagement in Kolozsvár (Cluj) on the staff of Corvin. The next year Korda established his independent studio in Budapest with the same name. In 1919 during the Commune he was the art director of filmmaking as a member of the directory. After the fall of the Commune he lived in Vienna. Alexander Kolowrat invited him to Sascha Co. From 1917 to 1924 he was the first assistant of the Corvin film factory. Until the departure of his elder brother, Sándor Korda, he worked beside him. From 1924 he was a cameraman in Vienna and Berlin, and later became a director for UFA. At the beginning of the sound period he settled down in England, UK. From 1940 to 1949 he shot in Hollywood. In 1950 he went to London, then returned to the U.S. He mostly achieved his success by exotic stories. He adapted Rudyard Kipling topics several times.