Pare Lorentz (December 11, 1905 – March 4, 1992) was an American filmmaker known for his movies about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia, he was educated at West Virginia Wesleyan College and West Virginia University. As a young film critic in New York and Hollywood, Lorentz spoke out against censorship in the film industry.As the most influential documentary filmmaker of the Great Depression, Lorentz was the leading US advocate for government-sponsored documentary films. His service as a filmmaker for US Army Air Corps in World War II was formidable, including technical films, documentation of bombing raids, and synthesizing raw footage of Nazi atrocities for an educational film on the Nuremberg Trials. Nonetheless, Lorentz will always be known best as "FDR's filmmaker."
Noted documentary film maker, former journalist and film critic. Became head of the U.S. Film Service in 1938. From 1940, worked at RKO as director of production, as well as making motivational films for the armed services. Between 1945 and 1947, acted as Chief of Motion Pictures, Music and Theatre in occupied Germany.
2
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 688-692. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.