Irving Pichel was born on June 24, 1891 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Destination Moon (1950), Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) and The Most Dangerous Game (1932). He was married to Violette Wilson. He died on July 13, 1954 in Hollywood, California, USA.Graduate of Harvard Discovered actress Natalie Wood A close friend of playwright George S. Kaufman, Pichel also convinced veteran character actor Charles Lane to give acting a try. Together they went to Los Angeles and studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. Ethnic character villain in early pre-Code talkies who later moved into full-time directing for Twentieth Century-Fox. Pichel (last name pronounced "Pitch-ell" like "Mitchell") directed the sci-fi film Destination Moon (1950), which won a "Best Crime or Adventure" award at the Berlin Film Festival and a special effects Oscar. Played Fagin in Monogram Pictures' low-budget version of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1933). His reviews were mixed. He died suddenly in 1954, only a week after completing his last film as a director, Day of Triumph (1954). Directed two actors to Oscar nominations: Monty Woolley (Best Actor, The Pied Piper (1942)) and J. Carrol Naish (Best Supporting Actor, A Medal for Benny (1945)). Served for many years on the advisory board of the Theatre Guild of New York. Jewish by birth, directed several anti-Nazi and pro-British films in the years before the United States entered WWII. Father: Julius Pichel; Mother: Rachel Stadtfeld. He was blacklisted in 1947. After his death it was confirmed he had been a member of the Communist Party.