Among his film successes are The Bridge (1929), Double Door (1934), The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942), The Desperadoes (1943), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), Over 21 (1945), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Rhapsody (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Swan (1956), The Joker Is Wild (1957), and A Farewell to Arms (1957).

Born Károly Vidor in Budapest, Hungary, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.

He attracted acclaim for a low budget short he made in his spare time with his own money, The Bridge (1929).

Vidor signed with Columbia Pictures where he directed Romance of the Redwoods (1939), Blind Alley (1939) and Those High Grey Walls (1939).

[2] Frank Capra got Vidor in to do some second unit work on Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which was running behind schedule.

After Over 21 (1946) with Irene Dunne, Vidor directed another classic film with Gilda (1946) starring Hayworth and Glenn Ford.

[5] He started directing The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947), but fought with Cohn and was replaced during filming by Henry Levin.

[5][9] Vidor began directing Ford and William Holden in The Man from Colorado (1949) but clashed with Cohn once more over the shooting schedule and was fired during filming for being too slow, being replaced by Levin.

[4] In 1948 Vidor announced he had purchased rights to Sirocco, a French Foreign Legion tale based on the novel Coup de Grace he wanted to make with Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart.

[12] He was also preparing to do the film version of Born Yesterday and did a few days uncredited work on Under Cover Man.

[16] Vidor went to Paramount with a project he had developed himself, Thunder in the East (filmed 1951, released 1952), which starred Alan Ladd.

[18] At MGM Vidor did a musical with Elizabeth Taylor, Rhapsody (1954) and a biopic of Ruth Etting, Love Me or Leave Me (1955), a big success.

[19] Vidor went into partnership with Frank Sinatra and Joe E. Lewis to make a biopic of the latter, The Joker Is Wild (1957).

[23] Charles Vidor died at the age of 58 in Vienna, Austria, from a heart attack, reportedly in flagrante delicto with a bit player from the film he was directing at the time.