Anecdotes

At the time of his death, he was one of only three living directors who have directed two films that have won the Academy Award for best picture. The others are Francis Ford Coppola and Clint Eastwood.

His sons, Andrew and James, were named after Andy Kaufman and Jim Carrey. Carrey portrays Kaufman in Forman's film L'homme sur la lune (1999).

He was raised by parents Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. They were Protestants, but were arrested by the Nazis during World War II after being accused of participating in the underground anti-Nazi resistance (his father died in Buchenwald and his mother died in Auschwitz). As an adult, Milos was told that his biological father was Otto Kohn, an architect of Jewish heritage (making Milos a biological half-brother of mathematician Joseph J. Kohn).

Was reportedly one of the first directors who considered turning the J.R.R. Tolkien novel, "The Lord of the Rings", into a live action feature.

His top ten films of all time are: Les lumières de la ville (1931), Citizen Kane (1941), Les enfants du paradis (1945), Miracle à Milan (1951), Géant (1956), Le parrain (1972), Amarcord (1973), Graffiti américains (1973), Voyage au bout de l'enfer (1978) and Comme un taureau sauvage (1980). [Source: "Sight and Sound"].

Became US citizen in 1975.

First name is pronounced "Mee-losh." Last name is pronounced like "Forre-mahn", with rolling "r"'s.

Is one of 10 directors to win the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, winning for Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975). The other directors to have achieved this are Mike Nichols for Le lauréat (1967), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Oliver Stone for Platoon (1986), Steven Spielberg for La liste de Schindler (1993), Ang Lee for Souvenirs de Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Danny Boyle for Le pouilleux millionnaire (2008), Alfonso Cuarón for Gravité (2013) and Roma (2018), Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Le revenant (2015), and Guillermo del Toro for La forme de l'eau (2017).

Will receive the Directors Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction [November 28, 2012].

He directed 8 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif,Howard E. Rollins Jr., Elizabeth McGovern, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce and Woody Harrelson. Nicholson, Fletcher and Abraham won Oscars for their performances.

He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975) and Amadeus (1984).

He was the first choice of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and original producer Irwin Winkler to direct Basic Instinct (1992). Forman liked the script and was interested in directing the film but Carolco, who had paid a record $3m for the script, made a deal with Paul Verhoeven to direct.

For many years, Forman was chair of Columbia University's film division. He would take sabbatical years for filmmaking.

He has directed two films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975) and Amadeus (1984). Both films won in the category.

Two of Forman's films are in the Criterion Collection: Lásky jedné plavovlásky (1965) and Horí, má panenko (1967).

Studied at FAMU film school in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic. Other graduates of FAMU include Jirí Menzel, Agnieszka Holland, Emir Kusturica, Grímur Hákonarson, Frank Beyer, Vera Chytilová and Milan Kundera.

He was due to have directed a film called Hell Camp in the early 1990s, from an original screenplay he had written with Adam Davidson. The film, to have been shot in New York and Tokyo, was to have starred Dylan Walsh and centred on two young Americans travelling to Japan and learning Japanese discipline and fighting spirit at a military-style camp. One falls in love with a Japanese girl while the other becomes a sumo wrestler. Shooting was to have started in November 1991 for a Christmas 1992 release but the film was cancelled when the Sumo Association of Japan objected to the script's allegedly unflattering portrayal of the sport. TriStar, the film's backers, offered to support Forman if he wanted to change the script or try to make the film without the cooperation of the Sumo Association but the director felt that the association's cooperation was needed for the film's authenticity in the provision of stadiums and professional sumo wrestlers.

He was hand-picked by Michael Crichton to direct Harcèlement (1994) but subsequently left the project due to creative differences with Crichton.

Was linked romantically with actresses Beverly D'Angelo, Catherine Deneuve and Nastassja Kinski.

In Milan Kundera's short story "La pomme d'or de l'éternel désir" (in the collection "Risibles amours"), Martin, the narrator's womanizing friend, introduces himself as Milos Forman to a naive country girl, that he tries to pick up, and claims that the narrator is Forman's regular cinematographer Miroslav Ondrícek [Folio edition, 1987, pg. 75].

Awarded fourth annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. (1997)

Brother of Pavel Forman.

Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 25th Cannes International Film Festival in 1972.

In 1995, it was announced that he would direct a remake of Dodsworth (1936) for Warner Bros. starring Harrison Ford from a script by Alfred Uhry. The project never came to fruition.

President of the Official Competition Jury at the 38th Cannes International Film Festival in 1985. The winner of the Palme d'Or was Papa est en voyage d'affaires (1985).

Father, with Vera Kresadlová, of twin brothers Matej Forman & Petr Forman.

Studied direction at the Prague Film Academy (FAMU) together with his friend Giorgos Skalenakis.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985." Pages 349-356. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

President of the Official Competition Jury at the 7th Marrakech International Film Festival in 2007.

Ex-brother-in-law of Hana Brejchová.