George Cukor (7 July 1899 – 24 January 1983) was a major Hollywood director of the Golden Age. He was also the third director to work on the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. Cukor was brought in as a stopgap after producer Mervyn LeRoy fired Richard Thorpe in late October 1938. Cukor was never intended as a permanent replacement for Thorpe, and in fact had little interest in the Oz project; he was biding his time until Gone With the Wind, which he was scheduled to direct, began filming in January 1939. The result was that Cukor worked on the Oz film for less than a week, from 26 to 31 October 1938.