With Balls and Chutzpah

<p>Gene Gutowski's name is associated with some of the great films of the twentieth century: the Oscar-winning masterpiece <i>The Pianist Repulsion Cul-de-sac</i> and <i>Fearless Vampire Killers.</i> Producer of many of Roman Polanski's classics Gene Gutowski shares here his extraordinary memoirs: those of a Polish Jew alone in occupied Warsaw after the deportation of his entire family. As a young man who with the blind courage of one who has nothing to lose took incredible risks he narrowly escaped the many horrors of life in Nazi-occupied Poland. </p><p>In an extraordinary twist of destiny and thanks to his prodigious resourcefulness Gene Gutowski found himself in Germany in 1945 working as an American counter-espionage agent. After the war he made his way to New York where he worked as a fashion illustrator and TV producer then on to London where he became a successful producer and member of the jet set during the sixties. Finally he achieved Hollywood consecration with the three Oscars won by <i>The Pianist.</i></p><p>It is an extremely endearing personality that reveals itself here modest about the difficulties overcome honest about the successes and failures. Gene Gutowski's youth was a thumb of the nose to death and totalitarianism and his journey is a formidable life lesson. </p>