Pandro S. Berman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pandro Samuel Berman (March 28, 1905 – July 13, 1996), also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer. Berman was an assistant director during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair and Ralph Ince. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939. After David O. Selznick became chief of production at RKO in October 1931, Berman managed to survive Selznick's general firing of most of the staff. Selznick named Berman producer for the adaptation of Fannie Hurst's short story Night Bell, a tale of a Jewish doctor's rise out of the Lower East Side ghetto to the height of becoming a Park Avenue physician, which Selznick personally retitled Symphony of Six Million. He ordered Berman to have references to ethnic life in the Jewish ghetto restored. The movie was a box-office and critical success. Both Selznick and Berman were proud of the picture, with Berman later saying it was the "first good movie" he had produced. The Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Gunga Din (both 1939) were completed. Upset when an RKO power play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl (1941), National Velvet (1944), The Bribe (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Butterfield 8 (1960). He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move (1970). Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952). Berman died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91. He was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth
(Self)
On Location with Gunga Din
(Self)
Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm
(Self (archive footage))
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
(Self)
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
(Self - Producer (archive footage))
The Oscars
(Self)
The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
(Self)
The Age of Consent
(Associate Producer)
5th Ave Girl
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
The Prize
(Producer)
Top Hat
(Producer)
Swing Time
(Producer)
Love Crazy
(Producer)
Father of the Bride
(Producer)
Father's Little Dividend
(Producer)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(Producer)
Morning Glory
(Producer)
The Reluctant Debutante
(Producer)
Blackboard Jungle
(Producer)
The Brothers Karamazov
(Producer)
Room Service
(Producer)
Slightly Dangerous
(Producer)
Stage Door
(Producer)
Of Human Bondage
(Producer)
Undercurrent
(Producer)
Quentin Durward
(Producer)
Living in a Big Way
(Producer)
Honeymoon Hotel
(Producer)
The Richest Girl in the World
(Producer)
The Age of Innocence
(Producer)
The Fountain
(Producer)
In Person
(Producer)
Find Your Man
(Assistant Director)
The Three Musketeers
(Producer)
Down to Their Last Yacht
(Executive Producer)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(Producer)
The Big Game
(Producer)
Bhowani Junction
(Producer)
Ivanhoe
(Producer)
The Prisoner of Zenda
(Producer)
BUtterfield 8
(Producer)
Madame Bovary
(Producer)
Having Wonderful Time
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
Where Sinners Meet
(Executive Producer)
The Gay Divorcee
(Producer)
A Patch of Blue
(Producer)
Winterset
(Producer)
What Price Hollywood?
(Associate Producer)
Sylvia Scarlett
(Producer)
Rio Rita
(Producer)
The Long, Long Trailer
(Producer)
Symphony of Six Million
(Associate Producer)
The Monkey's Paw
(Producer)
The Half-Naked Truth
(Associate Producer)
Christopher Strong
(Associate Producer)
Jailhouse Rock
(Producer)
Dragon Seed
(Producer)
Stingaree
(Executive Producer)
Murder on the Blackboard
(Executive Producer)
By Your Leave
(Producer)
Romance in Manhattan
(Producer)
Alice Adams
(Producer)
Wednesday's Child
(Executive Producer)
Mary of Scotland
(Producer)
Knights of the Round Table
(Producer)
Carefree
(Producer)
Cockeyed Cavaliers
(Executive Producer)
This Man Is Mine
(Producer)
Roberta
(Producer)
Ann Vickers
(Producer)
Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men
(Producer)
Man of Two Worlds
(Producer)
Spitfire
(Producer)
Strictly Dynamite
(Executive Producer)
Hat, Coat and Glove
(Executive Producer)
We're Rich Again
(Executive Producer)
The Life of Vergie Winters
(Producer)
Gridiron Flash
(Producer)
Let's Try Again
(Executive Producer)
Bachelor Bait
(Executive Producer)
Their Big Moment
(Executive Producer)
His Greatest Gamble
(Executive Producer)
The Little Minister
(Producer)
Shall We Dance
(Producer)
That Girl from Paris
(Producer)
A Damsel in Distress
(Producer)
Quality Street
(Producer)
Follow the Fleet
(Producer)
Ziegfeld Girl
(Producer)
Something of Value
(Producer)
The Bribe
(Producer)
Soldiers Three
(Producer)
National Velvet
(Producer)
Somewhere I'll Find You
(Producer)
The Mad Miss Manton
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
The Doctor and the Girl
(Producer)
I Dream Too Much
(Producer)
Sweepings
(Associate Producer)
The Silver Cord
(Producer)
Break of Hearts
(Producer)
Justine
(Producer)
Sweet Bird of Youth
(Producer)
Muss 'em Up
(Producer)
In Name Only
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
Vivacious Lady
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
Bachelor Mother
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
The Sea of Grass
(Producer)
Tea and Sympathy
(Producer)
Bed of Roses
(Producer)
The Soldier and the Lady
(Producer)
Allegheny Uprising
(Executive In Charge Of Production)
Gunga Din
(Production Manager)
Move
(Producer)
Money to Burns
(Assistant Director)
The Light Touch
(Producer)
Battle Circus
(Producer)
All the Brothers Were Valiant
(Producer)
Fighting Blood
(Assistant Director)
The Seventh Cross
(Producer)
All the Fine Young Cannibals
(Producer)
Taxi 13
(Editor)