Goldwyn, Samuel

Goldwyn, Samuel
orig. Schmuel Gelbfisz later Samuel Goldfish

born July 1879, Warsaw, Pol.
died Jan. 31, 1974, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.

U.S. film producer.

He emigrated alone at age 13 from Poland to New York, where he worked in a glove factory and became a salesman. He formed a film company with his brother-in-law, Jesse L. Lasky (1880–1958), and Cecil B. DeMille in 1913. In 1917 he left the company and with Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Pictures Corp. By the time that company merged into MGM (1924), he had become an independent producer. He employed top screenwriters, directors, and actors to produce films of high quality, including Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Guys and Dolls (1955), and Porgy and Bess (1959).

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▪ American filmmaker and producer
original name  Schmuel Gelbfisz,  also called  Samuel Goldfish 
born July 1879, Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire
died Jan. 31, 1974, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.

      pioneer American filmmaker and one of Hollywood's most prominent producers for more than 30 years.

      Orphaned as a child, Goldwyn emigrated first to London and eventually to a small town in New York state, where he worked in a glove factory. By the age of 18 he was one of the top glove salesmen in the world and a partner in his company. With his brother-in-law Jesse Lasky, then a vaudeville producer, he cofounded the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company. Their initial release was Cecil B. deMille's Squaw Man (1913), one of the first full-length feature films made in Hollywood. In 1917 the company merged with Adolph Zukor's (Zukor, Adolph) Famous Players Film Company, and Goldwyn became the chairman of the board of the Famous Players–Lasky Company. That same year he established the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, which was incorporated into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. He thereafter worked as an independent producer, distributing his films through the United Artists Corporation until 1940, then through RKO.

      As a producer Goldwyn made it a practice to hire the finest writers, directors, actors, and cinematographers available, and consequently his pictures maintained a high level of excellence. Many of his films have a literary flavour, among them Dodsworth (1936), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Little Foxes (1941). He is also remembered for more purely cinematic features, such as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and a series of Technicolor musicals, such as Guys and Dolls (1955) and Porgy and Bess (1959). He was instrumental in introducing to films such stars as Bebe Daniels, Pola Negri, Will Rogers, Vilma Banky, and Ronald Colman. Malapropos but expressive “Goldwynisms”—such as “Include me out”—were widely quoted and attributed to him, often apocryphally.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Goldwyn,Samuel — Gold·wyn (gōldʹwĭn), Samuel. 1882 1974. Polish born American film producer who founded his own film company (1917) and merged with Louis B. Mayer to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (1925). His many productions include The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) …   Universalium

  • Goldwyn, Samuel — orig. Schmuel Gelbfisz post. Samuel Goldfish (jul. 1879, Varsovia, Polonia–31 ene. 1974, Los Ángeles, Cal., EE.UU.). Productor de cine estadounidense. A la edad de 13 años viajó sin familia desde Polonia hasta Nueva York. Ahí trabajó y llegó a… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Goldwyn, Samuel — (1882 1973)    American film producer. He emigrated at the age of 13 from Warsaw to the US. In 1918 he formed the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. Later he established Metro Goldwyn Mayer …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Goldwyn Pictures — Goldwyn Picture Corporation – kurz: Goldwyn Pictures – war eine US amerikanische Filmproduktionsgesellschaft, die 1916 von Samuel Goldwyn, Edgar Selwyn und Archibald Selwyn gegründet wurde. Die Firma ging 1924 in der Metro Goldwyn Mayer auf.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Samuel Goldwyn — Samuel Goldwyn, en el centro, circa 1916 Nombre real Schmuel Gelbfisz Nacimiento 17 de agosto de 1879 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Samuel Goldfish — Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn est le pseudonyme de Schmuel Gelbfisz, producteur américain d origine polonaise né le 17 août 1882 à Varsovie (Pologne), décédé le 31 janvier 1974 à Los Angeles (Californie). Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Filmographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Samuel — samuel. m. C. Rica. Acción de samuelear. || echar un samuel. fr. C. Rica. samuelear. * * * Samuel, Herbert Louis (Šemū´ēl) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Samuel Goldwyn — Infobox actor bgcolour = Silver name = Samuel Goldwyn caption = Samuel Goldwyn centre frame, ca. 1916 birthname = Schmuel Gelbfisz birthdate = ca . July 1879 [Berg, A. Scott. Goldwyn: A Biography . New York: Alfred A. Knopf (1989)] location =… …   Wikipedia

  • Samuel Goldwyn — noun United States film maker (born in Poland) who founded his own film company and later merged with Louis B. Mayer (1882 1974) • Syn: ↑Goldwyn, ↑Sam Goldwyn • Instance Hypernyms: ↑film maker, ↑filmmaker, ↑film producer, ↑movie maker * * * …   Useful english dictionary

  • Samuel — /sam yooh euhl/, n. 1. a judge and prophet of Israel. I Sam. 1 3; 8 15. 2. either of two books of the Bible bearing his name. Abbr.: I Sam., II Sam. 3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning name of God. * * * I (с 11th century BC) Old… …   Universalium

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