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.
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)
Cupid the Cowpuncher
(Producer)
The Slim Princess
(Producer)
The Truth
(Producer)
The Penalty
(Producer)
Officer 666
(Executive Producer)
Honest Hutch
(Producer)
What Happened To Rosa?
(Producer)
The Great Lover
(Producer)
Boys Will Be Boys
(Producer)
Guile of Women
(Producer)
A Tale of Two Worlds
(Producer)
Don't Neglect Your Wife
(Producer)
Polly of the Circus
(Executive Producer)
Arsène Lupin
(Producer)
The Ace of Hearts
(Producer)
Oh Mary Be Careful
(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)
Remembrance
(Producer)
A Blind Bargain
(Producer)
The Christian
(Executive Producer)
Mr. Barnes of New York
(Producer)
Lost and Found on a South Sea Island
(Producer)
Unseeing Eyes
(Producer)
The Eternal Three
(Producer)
Potash and Perlmutter
(Producer)
The Day of Faith
(Producer)
The Eternal City
(Producer)
Three Weeks
(Executive Producer)
Cytherea
(Producer)
True As Steel
(Executive Producer)
Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model
(Executive Producer)
Nana
(Producer)
A Thief in Paradise
(Producer)
In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
(Producer)
Stella Dallas
(Producer)
The Night of Love
(Producer)
Partners Again
(Producer)
The Devil Dancer
(Producer)
Two Lovers
(Producer)
The Rescue
(Executive Producer)
This Is Heaven
(Producer)
Bulldog Drummond
(Producer)
The Cinderella Man
(Executive Producer)
Fighting Odds
(Producer)
The Floor Below
(Producer)
All Woman
(Executive Producer)
The Turn of the Wheel
(Producer)
Laughing Bill Hyde
(Producer)
Peck's Bad Girl
(Producer)
Thirty a Week
(Producer)
The Hell Cat
(Executive Producer)
A Perfect 36
(Producer)
The Racing Strain
(Producer)
A Perfect Lady
(Producer)
The Stronger Vow
(Executive Producer)
Sis Hopkins
(Producer)
Upstairs
(Producer)
Almost a Husband
(Executive Producer)
Lord and Lady Algy
(Producer)
Jubilo
(Producer)
Raffles
(Producer)
Pinto
(Producer)
One Heavenly Night
(Producer)
The Devil to Pay!
(Producer)
Condemned!
(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)
Cynara
(Producer)
Kid Millions
(Producer)
The Masquerader
(Producer)
Roman Scandals
(Producer)
The Kid from Spain
(Producer)
We Live Again
(Producer)
The Dark Angel
(Producer)
The Wedding Night
(Producer)
Come and Get It
(Producer)
Barbary Coast
(Producer)
Dodsworth
(Producer)
Splendor
(Producer)
Strike Me Pink
(Producer)
These Three
(Producer)
Woman Chases Man
(Producer)
Beloved Enemy
(Producer)
Dead End
(Producer)
The Hurricane
(Producer)
Stella Dallas
(Producer)
The Goldwyn Follies
(Producer)
The Cowboy and the Lady
(Producer)
The Adventures of Marco Polo
(Producer)
They Got Me Covered
(Producer)
Raffles
(Producer)
They Shall Have Music
(Producer)
The Little Foxes
(Producer)
The Westerner
(Producer)
The Kid from Brooklyn
(Producer)
The Princess and the Pirate
(Producer)
Ball of Fire
(Producer)
Up in Arms
(Producer)
Roseanna McCoy
(Producer)
My Foolish Heart
(Producer)
Enchantment
(Producer)
A Song Is Born
(Producer)
The North Star
(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)