Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmul Gelbfisz), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish American film producer. He was most well known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. In 1916, Goldwyn partnered with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, using a combination of both names to call their movie-making enterprise Goldwyn Pictures. Seeing an opportunity, Samuel Gelbfisz then had his name legally changed to Samuel Goldwyn, which he used for the rest of his life. Goldwyn Pictures proved successful but it is their Leo the Lion trademark for which the organization is most famous. On April 10, 1924, Goldwyn Pictures was acquired by Marcus Loew and merged into his Metro Pictures Corporation. Despite the inclusion of his name, Goldwyn had no role in the management or production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Before the sale and merger of Goldwyn Pictures in April 1924, Goldwyn had established Samuel Goldwyn Productions in 1923 as a production-only operation (with no distribution arm). Their first feature was Potash and Perlmutter, released in September 1923 through First National Pictures. Some of the early productions bear the name Howard Productions, named for Goldwyn's wife Frances Howard. For 35 years, Goldwyn built a reputation in filmmaking and developed an eye for finding the talent for making films. William Wyler directed many of his most celebrated productions, and he hired writers such as Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman. (According to legend, at a heated story conference Goldwyn scolded someone —in most accounts Mrs. Parker, who recalled he had once been a glove maker— with the retort: “Don't you point that finger at me. I knew it when it had a thimble on it!” During that time, Goldwyn made numerous films and reigned as the most successful independent producer in the US. Many of his films were forgettable; his collaboration with John Ford, however, resulted in Best Picture Oscar nomination for Arrowsmith (1931). William Wyler was responsible for most of Goldwyn's highly lauded films, with Best Picture Oscar nominations for Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1948). The leading actors in several of Goldwyn films, especially those directed by William Wyler, were also Oscar-nominated for their performances. Throughout the 1930s, Goldwyn released all his films through United Artists, but beginning in 1941, and continuing almost through the end of his career, Goldwyn released his films through RKO Radio Pictures. Goldwyn died at his home in Los Angeles in 1974 from natural causes, at the probable age of 94. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In the 1980s, Samuel Goldwyn Studio was sold to Warner Bros. There is a theater named after him in Beverly Hills and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street.
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
(Self (archive footage))
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
(Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited))
Salinger
(Self - Film Producer (archive footage))
Small world: Vivien Leigh
(Self- producer)
Hollywood Preview
(Self)
The Ed Sullivan Show
(Self)
What's My Line?
(Self)
Small World
(Self)
The Best Years of Our Lives
(Producer)
Porgy and Bess
(Producer)
Wuthering Heights
(Producer)
Guys and Dolls
(Producer)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
(Producer)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
(Producer)
Wonder Man
(Producer)
The Westerner
(Presenter)
Edge of Doom
(Producer)
The Cowboy and the Lady
(Presenter)
Hans Christian Andersen
(Producer)
The Pride of the Yankees
(Producer)
The Bishop's Wife
(Producer)
The Winning of Barbara Worth
(Producer)
Arrowsmith
(Presenter)
The Real Glory
(Presenter)
The Real Glory
(Producer)
Name the Man
(Executive Producer)
Whoopee!
(Producer)
Partners of the Night
(Producer)
Jes' Call Me Jim
(Producer)
The Slim Princess
(Producer)
Cupid the Cowpuncher
(Producer)
The Penalty
(Producer)
The Truth
(Producer)
Honest Hutch
(Producer)
Officer 666
(Executive Producer)
The Great Lover
(Producer)
What Happened To Rosa
(Producer)
Guile of Women
(Producer)
Boys Will Be Boys
(Producer)
A Tale of Two Worlds
(Producer)
Don't Neglect Your Wife
(Producer)
Polly of the Circus
(Executive Producer)
Arsène Lupin
(Producer)
Oh Mary Be Careful
(Producer)
The Ace of Hearts
(Producer)
Doubling for Romeo
(Producer)
Watch Your Step
(Executive Producer)
Sherlock Holmes
(Executive Producer)
Head Over Heels
(Executive Producer)
His Back Against the Wall
(Producer)
The Magic Flame
(Producer)
The Awakening
(Producer)
Mr. Barnes of New York
(Producer)
Remembrance
(Producer)
A Blind Bargain
(Producer)
The Christian
(Executive Producer)
Lost and Found on a South Sea Island
(Producer)
Potash and Perlmutter
(Producer)
The Eternal Three
(Producer)
Unseeing Eyes
(Producer)
The Day of Faith
(Producer)
The Eternal City
(Producer)
Three Weeks
(Executive Producer)
Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model
(Executive Producer)
True As Steel
(Executive Producer)
Cytherea
(Producer)
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
(Producer)
A Thief in Paradise
(Producer)
Nana
(Producer)
Stella Dallas
(Producer)
Partners Again
(Producer)
The Night of Love
(Producer)
The Devil Dancer
(Producer)
Two Lovers
(Producer)
The Rescue
(Executive Producer)
Bulldog Drummond
(Producer)
This Is Heaven
(Producer)
Fighting Odds
(Producer)
The Cinderella Man
(Executive Producer)
The Floor Below
(Producer)
All Woman
(Executive Producer)
The Turn of the Wheel
(Producer)
Peck's Bad Girl
(Producer)
Laughing Bill Hyde
(Producer)
Thirty a Week
(Producer)
A Perfect 36
(Producer)
The Hell Cat
(Executive Producer)
A Perfect Lady
(Producer)
The Racing Strain
(Producer)
Sis Hopkins
(Producer)
The Stronger Vow
(Executive Producer)
Upstairs
(Producer)
Lord and Lady Algy
(Producer)
Almost a Husband
(Executive Producer)
Jubilo
(Producer)
Condemned!
(Producer)
Raffles
(Producer)
The Devil to Pay!
(Producer)
One Heavenly Night
(Producer)
Pinto
(Producer)
Water, Water, Everywhere
(Producer)
The Paliser Case
(Executive Producer)
Street Scene
(Producer)
Palmy Days
(Producer)
The Unholy Garden
(Producer)
Arrowsmith
(Producer)
Tonight or Never
(Producer)
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
(Producer)
The Kid from Spain
(Producer)
Cynara
(Producer)
The Masquerader
(Producer)
Roman Scandals
(Producer)
We Live Again
(Producer)
Kid Millions
(Producer)
The Wedding Night
(Producer)
The Dark Angel
(Producer)
Barbary Coast
(Producer)
Splendor
(Producer)
Strike Me Pink
(Producer)
These Three
(Producer)
Dodsworth
(Producer)
Come and Get It
(Producer)
Beloved Enemy
(Producer)
Woman Chases Man
(Producer)
Stella Dallas
(Producer)
Dead End
(Producer)
The Hurricane
(Producer)
The Goldwyn Follies
(Producer)
The Adventures of Marco Polo
(Producer)
The Cowboy and the Lady
(Producer)
They Shall Have Music
(Producer)
Raffles
(Producer)
The Westerner
(Producer)
The Little Foxes
(Producer)
Ball of Fire
(Producer)
They Got Me Covered
(Producer)
The North Star
(Producer)
Up in Arms
(Producer)
The Princess and the Pirate
(Producer)
The Kid from Brooklyn
(Producer)
A Song Is Born
(Producer)
Enchantment
(Producer)
Roseanna McCoy
(Producer)
My Foolish Heart
(Producer)
Our Very Own
(Producer)
I Want You
(Producer)
Brooba
(Production Consultant)
The Hurricane
(Presenter)
Our Very Own
(Presenter)
Ball of Fire
(Presenter)
The Penalty
(Presenter)
The Beloved Traitor
(Producer)
The Face in the Dark
(Producer)
Dead End
(Presenter)
A Double-Dyed Deceiver
(Presenter)
Slave of Desire
(Producer)
Hungry Hearts
(Producer)
Through the Wrong Door
(Presenter)
The World and Its Woman
(Executive Producer)
The Loves of Letty
(Presenter)
The Woman on the Index
(Presenter)
The North Wind's Malice
(Presenter)
Leave It to Susan
(Presenter)
The Spreading Dawn
(Producer)