| HOME | INDEX
SILENT MOVIE |
THE INTERNATIONAL SILENT MOVIE |  |
| HOME | INDEX
SILENT MOVIE |
THE INTERNATIONAL SILENT MOVIE | |
| Darryl
F. Zanuck
1902 - 1979 |
.
. The producer Darryl F. Zanuck belonged to the most influence filmworkers of Hollywood who realised many classics for the big screen. But his childhood did not lead one to suspect a huge career in the future which came up completely to the expression "rags-to-riches". Darryl F. Zanuck was born into a miserable marriage, his father was a alcoholic. At the age of 13 his parents abandoned him and he had to slap through by himself. Two years later he joined the U.S. Army (he swindled with his age to get hired) and fought in Mexico and during World War I in France and Belgium. After his release from the army he took over numerous small jobs, an academic education fell by the wayside. Beside it he followed his goal to become established as a writer and finally he was able to publish his first story. When story was filmed he wrote the scenario for Williamm Russell. The film business became his new home and he got an education by Mack Sennett, Syd Chapling and Carl Laemmle. Despite his missing academic education he soon gave proof of a very good instinct for movie stuffs. As a screenwriter he wrote the movies "Round Two" (22), "The Storm" (22), "The Knight in Gale" (23), "Gall of the Wild" (23), "Judy Punch" (23), "King Leary" (24), "William Tells" (24) and "Sherlock's Home" (24). When he created the very successful movie serial with the dog Rin Tin Tin together with Malcolm St. Clair in 1924 he bestowed an enormous success upon Warner Brothers. Movies like "Find Your Man" (24) and "The Lighthouse By the Sea" (24) let the tills ring. Finally he became the head of production for Warner Brothers in 1925 and he realised many well-known movies in the next years. At the same time he continued to write scripts. To Darryl F. Zanuck's first movies as a producer belong "Lady Windermere's Fan" (25), "Old San Francisco" (27), "Noah's Ark" (29) and "The Show of Shows" (29). In the 30s he was able to set a course in the now dominating talkies, to these movies belong "Little Caesar" (31) - which provided the new arising genre of gangster movies for the breakthrough - "The Public Enemy" (31), "The Man Who Played God" (32), "The Dark Horse" (32), "Doctor X" (32), "The Cabin in the Cotton" (32), "20'000 Years in Sing Sing" (32) and "42nd Street" (33). Zanuck left Warner Brothers in 1933 and founded together with William Goetz and Joseph M. Schenck the Twentieth Century Films. In the next years Zanuck produced "Gallant Lady" (33), "Moulin Rouge" (34), "Born to Be Bad" (34), "Clive of India" (35), "Les Misérables" (35) and "Cardinal Richelieu" (35). Twentieth Century Films took over the bankrupft Fox in 1935 and from now on produced their movies under the name Twentieth Century Fox and Darryl F. Zanuck led the company for several decades. Til the end of the 30s he realised "Under Two Flags" (36), "The Road to Glory" (36), "Poor Little Rich Girl" (36), "Reunion" (36), "In Old Chicago" (37), "Wee Willie Winkie" (37), "Lancer Spy" (37), "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (38), "Gateway" (38), "Jesse James" (39), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (39), "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" (39), "Young Mr. Lincoln" (39) and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (39). Especially the movies with superstar Shirley Temple earned the studio a lot of money. Other stars at the starting time of the company were Alice Faye, Tyrone Power and Don Ameche. Darryl F. Zanuck produced numerous other movies during the 40s like "The Grapes of Wrath" (40), "Star Dust" (40), "Lillian Russell" (40), "The Return of Frank James" (40), "The Mark of Zorro" (40), "Western Union" (41), "Blood and Sand" (41), "How Green Was My Valley" (41), "The Black Swan" (42), "Lifeboat" (44), "The Razor's Edge" (46), "Boomerang!" (47), "Forever Amber" (47) and "Twelve O'Clock High" (49). From the middle of the 50s he dispensed some of his controll, left his wife and went to Europe where he also produced some movies. To his productions of those years belong "Cheaper by the Dozen" (50), "No Way Out" (50), "All About Eve" (50), "Viva Zapata!" (52), "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (52), "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" (56), "The King and I" (56) and "The Barbarian and the Geisha" (58). With the movie "The Longest Day" (62) came his last big hit into being, especially in Europe. The movie was casted with many famous actors from Germany and France who were not familiar to most of the American audience - and numerous stars from England and the USA. On the left hand side is a letter of Darryl F. Zanuck to Hedda Hopper published in which he reports about the planned movie "The Longest Day" (62) and that the actor Bourvil will take over a bigger part. He describes Bourvil as one of the most famous film comedians of Europe but that he will be not well known by the Americans. Afterwards followed sporadic productions with "The Chapman Report" (62), "The Visit" (64) and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (71). When he was deposed by Twentieth Century Fox in 1971 he was the last producer who has survived from the golden era of Hollywood. Although Zanuck was married his casting couch was legendary and many aspiring actress went this way. There was a unwritten rule that Zanuck was in a "conference" between 4 and 4.30 pm to "inverview" one of his starlets. Also his later ambitions in Europe were often formed by affairs with upcoming actresses and filled the muckraking newspapers. His son Richard D. Zanuck became also a famous producer. Other movies from Darryl F. Zanuck (Producer):
Director:
Actor:
|
| Back |
