Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in
1983
He studied Chemistry, Business Administration and Political Economics. He also attended lectures at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In 1934 his career in the film industry was limited by the Nazi Reichfilmkammer because his mother was Jewish.
His mother was from a wealthy family of tea merchants from Hamburg and Denmark.
During the Nazi era, he was able to remain involved in the motion picture industry by getting jobs with various firms in Berlin as an expert in film technology and photochemistry.