1.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
2.
12th Academy Awards
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The 12th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best in film for 1939. The ceremony was held on February 29,1940, at a banquet in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and it was hosted by Bob Hope. David O. Selznicks production Gone with the Wind received the most nominations of the year with thirteen and this was the first year in which an Academy Award was awarded in the category of special effects. This was also the first time that two awards for cinematography were presented, hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to receive an Academy Award, winning in the Best Supporting Actress category for Gone with the Wind. Sidney Howard became the first posthumous winner for his screenplay for Gone with the Wind, AMPAS presented Academy Awards of Merit in twenty categories. Nominees for each award are listed below, award winners are listed first, among those who campaigned in favour of the film were Hedda Hopper who declared it as great as Lincolns Gettysburg speech, while Sheilah Graham called it the best talking picture ever made. Screen Book magazine stated that it should win every Academy Award, frank Capra, the director, and James Stewart, the films star were considered front runners to win awards. Gone with the Wind premiered in December 1939 with a Gallup poll taken shortly before its release concluding that 56.5 million people intended to see the film. The New York Film Critics Award was given to Wuthering Heights after thirteen rounds of balloting had left the voters deadlocked between Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone with the Wind, the press were divided in their support for the nominated actors. West Coast newspapers, particularly in Los Angeles, predicted Bette Davis would win for Dark Victory, observing that Davis had achieved four box office successes during the year, one paper wrote, Hollywood will stick by its favourite home-town girl, Bette Davis. Capra was the incumbent President of the Academy, and in a first for Academy Awards ceremonies, sold the rights for the event to be filmed. Warner Bros. obtained the rights, for $30,000 to film the banquet and the presentation of the awards, to use as a short, among these were Clark Gable and Bette Davis. Following the banquet, Capra opened proceedings at 11pm with a speech before introducing Bob Hope who made his first appearance as host of the awards. Looking at a table laden with awards awaiting presentation, he quipped, mickey Rooney presented an Academy Juvenile Award to Judy Garland, who then performed Over the Rainbow, a Best Song nominee from The Wizard of Oz. As the evening progressed, Gone with the Wind won the majority of awards, making a speech, Selznick paused to extend praise and gratitude to Olivia de Havilland, a Best Supporting Actress nominee, and made it clear in his speech he knew she had not won. Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Academy Award, de Havilland was among those to make their way to McDaniels table to offer congratulations, though it was reported de Havilland then fled to the kitchen, where she burst into tears. The press reported an irritated Irene Mayer Selznick followed her, and told her to return to their table, robert Donat, the winner for Best Actor, was one of three nominated actors not present. Accepting the award for Donat, Spencer Tracy said he was sure Donats win was welcomed by the entire motion-picture industry before presenting the Best Actress award to Vivien Leigh, the press noted Bette Davis was among those waiting to congratulate Leigh as she returned to her table
3.
Frank Capra
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Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, during World War II, Capra served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the Why We Fight series. After World War II, Capras career declined as his films such as Its a Wonderful Life. In succeeding decades, however, these films have been favorably reassessed, outside of directing, Capra was active in the film industry, engaging in various political and social issues. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, worked alongside the Screenwriters Guild, Capra was born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino, Sicily, a village near Palermo. He was the youngest of seven children of Salvatore Capra, a grower. The name Capra, notes Capras biographer Joseph McBride, represents his familys closeness to the land, and means goat. For Capra, the journey, which took 13 days, remained in his mind for the rest of his life as one of his worst experiences, very few people have trunks or anything that takes up space. They have just what they can carry in their hands or in a bag, theres no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. Its the most degrading place you could ever be, Capra remembers the ships arrival in New York Harbor, where he saw a statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple, holding a torch above the land we were about to enter. He recalls his fathers exclamation at the sight, Ciccio, look, thats the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem. The family settled in Los Angeless East Side which Capra described in his autobiography as an Italian ghetto, Capras father worked as a fruit picker and young Capra sold newspapers after school for 10 years, until he graduated from high school. Instead of working after graduating, as his parents wanted, he enrolled in college and he studied chemical engineering and graduated in the spring of 1918. Capra later wrote that his education had changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person. Soon after graduating college, Capra was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant, in the Army, he taught mathematics to artillerymen at Fort Point, San Francisco. His father died during the war in an accident, in the Army, Capra contracted Spanish flu and was medically discharged to return home to live with his mother. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1920, living at home with his siblings and mother, Capra was the only family member with a college education, yet he was the only one who remained chronically unemployed. After recovering at home, Capra moved out and spent the few years living in flophouses in San Francisco and hopping freight trains
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Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
5.
John Ford
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John Ford was an American film director. His four Academy Awards for Best Director remain a record, one of the films for which he won the award, How Green Was My Valley, also won Best Picture. In a career spanned more than 50 years, Ford directed more than 140 films and he is widely regarded as one of the most important. Fords work was held in regard by his colleagues, with Orson Welles. Ford made frequent use of shooting and long shots, in which his characters were framed against a vast, harsh. Ford was born John Martin Jack Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Abbey Curran and his father, John Augustine, was born in Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland in 1854. Barbara Curran had been born in the Aran Islands, in the town of Kilronan on the island of Inishmore, John A. Feeneys grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of a local gentry family, the Morrises of Spiddal. John Augustine and Barbara Curran arrived in Boston and Portland respectively in May and they married in 1875 and became American citizens five years later on September 11,1880. John Augustine lived in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine with his family, and would try farming, fishing, working for the gas company, running a saloon, and being an alderman. Feeney attended Portland High School, Portland, Maine, where he was a successful fullback and he earned the nickname Bull because of the way he would lower his helmet and charge the line. A Portland pub is named Bull Feeneys in his honor and he later moved to California and in 1914 began working in film production as well as acting for his older brother Francis, adopting Jack Ford as a professional name. In addition to credited roles, he appeared uncredited as a Klansman in D. W. Griffiths 1915 The Birth of a Nation and he married Mary McBride Smith on July 3,1920, and they had two children. His daughter Barbara was married to singer and actor Ken Curtis from 1952 to 1964, what difficulty was caused by the two marrying is unclear as the level of John Fords commitment to the Catholic faith is disputed. A strain would have been Fords many extramarital relationships, John Ford began his career in film after moving to California in July 1914. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Francis Ford, twelve years his senior. John Ford started out in his brothers films as an assistant, handyman, stuntman and occasional actor, frequently doubling for his brother, Francis gave his younger brother his first acting role in The Mysterious Rose. Despite an often combative relationship, within three years Jack had progressed to become Francis chief assistant and often worked as his cameraman, by the time Jack Ford was given his first break as a director, Francis profile was declining and he ceased working as a director soon after. One notable feature of John Fords films is that he used a company of actors
6.
William Wyler
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William Wyler, born as Willy Wyler was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, Film historian Ian Freer calls Wyler a bona fide perfectionist, whose penchant for retakes and an attempt to hone every last nuance, became the stuff of legend. Through his talent for staging, editing, and camera movement and he helped propel a number of actors to stardom, finding and directing Audrey Hepburn in her Hollywood debut film, Roman Holiday, and directing Barbra Streisand in her debut film, Funny Girl. He directed Olivia de Havilland to her second Oscar in The Heiress and Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights, Olivier credited Wyler with teaching him how to act for the screen. And Bette Davis, who received three Oscar nominations under his direction and won her second Oscar in Jezebel, said Wyler made her a far, far better actress than she had ever been. Other popular Wyler films include, Hells Heroes, Dodsworth, The Westerner, The Letter, Friendly Persuasion, The Big Country, The Childrens Hour, Wyler was born to a Jewish family in Mulhouse, Alsace. His Swiss father, Leopold, started as a traveling salesman which he turned into a thriving haberdashery business in Mulhouse. His mother, Melanie, was German, and a cousin of Carl Laemmle, during Wylers childhood, he attended a number of schools and developed a reputation as something of a hellraiser, being expelled more than once for misbehavior. His mother often took him and his older brother Robert to concerts, opera, sometimes at home his family and their friends would stage amateur theatricals for personal enjoyment. Wyler was supposed to take over the family business in Mulhouse. After World War I, he spent a year working in Paris at 100.000 Chemises selling shirts. He was so poor that he spent his time wandering around the Pigalle district. After realizing that Willy was not interested in the business, his mother, Melanie, contacted her distant cousin, Carl Laemmle who owned Universal Studios. Laemmle was in the habit of coming to Europe each year, in 1921, Wyler, while traveling as a Swiss citizen, met Laemmle who hired him to work at Universal Studios in New York. As Wyler said, America seemed as far away as the moon, booked onto a ship to New York with Laemmle upon his return voyage, he met a young Czech man, Paul Kohner, aboard the same ship. Their enjoyment of the first class trip was short-lived, however, after working in New York for several years, and even serving in the New York Army National Guard for a year, Wyler moved to Hollywood to become a director. Around 1923, Wyler arrived in Los Angeles and began work on the Universal Studios lot in the gang, cleaning the stages. His break came when he was hired as an assistant editor
7.
67th Academy Awards
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During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 23 categories honoring the films released in 1994. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates, comedian David Letterman hosted the show for the first time. Forrest Gump won six awards, including Best Picture, the telecast garnered more than 48 million viewers in the United States, making it the most watched Oscars telecast since the 55th Academy Awards in 1983. Forrest Gump earned the most nominations with thirteen and it was the most nominated film since 1966s Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf. and the fifth film to earn that many nominations. Bullets over Broadway, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction tied for second with seven each, the winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 27,1995. For only the time in Oscar history, three of the four acting winners were previous winners. The 11th ceremony held in 1939 previously accomplished this feat and he also was the sixth person to win Best Actor twice. Best Supporting Actress winner Dianne Wiest became the first person to win two acting Oscars for performances in films directed by the same person and she first won in that same category for her role in Woody Allens 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters. Franz Kafkas Its a Wonderful Life and Trevors joint win in the Best Live Action Short category marked the fifth occurrence of a tie in Oscar history, winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger. Michelangelo Antonioni Quincy Jones Clint Eastwood The following individuals, in order of appearance and she added that her role in the upcoming movie Bogus would jeopardize her busy schedule. Producer Gil Cates hired actor, comedian, and Late Show host David Letterman as host of the 1995 ceremony, Cates explained his decision to hire the late night talk show host saying, Hes punctual, hes well groomed, and he knows how to keep an audience awake. As with previous ceremonies he produced, Cates centered the show around a theme, even with television, its not a community experience unless you have a very big family. So its unique to movies and theater, and its this very human thing, in tandem with the theme, the ceremonys opening number featured a montage produced by Chuck Workman featuring scenes of humorous moments from a variety of both comedic and non-comedic films. During that segment, actors Tim Curry, Kathy Najimy, several collections of film clips were shown throughout the broadcast highlighting various aspects of comedy such as troupes and dialogue. Several other people were involved with the production of the ceremony. Bill Conti served as director and conductor for the event. Production designer Roy Christopher designed a new stage for the ceremony which featured a proscenium which was designed to resemble the iris of a camera. Moreover, Christopher commented that the motif was inspired by the iris shot prominently featured in several comedic films
8.
Spencer Tracy
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Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American actor, noted for his natural style and versatility. One of the stars of Hollywoods Golden Age, Tracy was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor. Tracy first discovered his talent for acting while attending Ripon College and he spent seven years in the theatre, working in a succession of stock companies and intermittently on Broadway. Tracys breakthrough came in 1930, when his performance in The Last Mile caught the attention of Hollywood. After a successful debut in Up the River, Tracy was signed to a contract with Fox Film Corporation. His five years with Fox were unremarkable, and he remained unknown to audiences after 25 films. In 1935 Tracy joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at the time Hollywoods most prestigious studio and his career flourished with a series of hit films, and in 1937 and 1938 he won consecutive Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. By the 1940s, Tracy was one of the top stars. In 1942 he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, Tracy left MGM in 1955 and continued to work regularly as a freelance star, despite an increasing weariness as he aged. His personal life was troubled, with a struggle against alcoholism. Tracy became estranged from his wife in the 1930s, but never divorced, towards the end of his life, Tracy worked almost exclusively for director Stanley Kramer. It was for Kramer that he made his last film, Guess Whos Coming to Dinner in 1967, during his career, Tracy appeared in 75 films and developed a reputation among his peers as one of the screens greatest actors. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Tracy as the 9th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema, Tracy was born on April 5,1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the son of Caroline and John Edward Tracy. His mother was a Presbyterian from a wealthy Midwestern family, and his one brother, Carroll, was four years older. Spencer was a difficult and hyperactive child with poor school attendance, raised as a Catholic, at nine years old he was placed in the care of Dominican nuns in the hope of transforming his behavior. Later in life he remarked, I never would have back to school if there had been any other way of learning to read the subtitles in the movies. He became fascinated with motion pictures, watching the same ones repeatedly and then re-enacting scenes to his friends, Tracy attended several Jesuit academies in his teenage years, which he claimed took the badness out of him and helped him improve his grades
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Warner Bros.
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Entertainment Inc. – colloquially known as Warner Bros. or Warner Bros. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios, Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The companys name originated from the four founding Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario. The three elder brothers began in the theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners, the owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance. In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, in 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, in 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, on April 4,1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwoods 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, however, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins, the movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star. Jack nicknamed him The Mortgage Lifter and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanucks career, Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jacks right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, lubitschs film The Marriage Circle was the studios most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for that year. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners remained a lesser studio, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a contract, like The Marriage Circle. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywoods most successful independent studio, as the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan
10.
20th Century Fox
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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio currently owned by 21st Century Fox. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios and is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, the studio was formerly owned by News Corporation. 20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2015, 20th Century Fox celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio. Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters, the studios biggest star, Will Rogers, died in a plane crash weeks after the merger. Its leading female star, Janet Gaynor, was fading in popularity and promising leading men James Dunn, at first, it was expected that the new company was originally to be called Fox-20th Century, even though 20th Century was the senior partner in the merger. However, 20th Century brought more to the bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck, the new company, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31,1935, the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President, Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Foxs longtime production chief Winfield Sheehan. The company established a training school. The contracts included an option for renewal for as long as seven years. For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have founded in 1915. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary, however, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915. The companys films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their credits as well as its opening fanfare. Also on the Fox payroll he found two players who he built up into the studios leading assets, Alice Faye and seven-year-old Shirley Temple, favoring popular biographies and musicals, Zanuck built Fox back to profitability. Thanks to record attendance during World War II, Fox overtook RKO, while Zanuck went off for eighteen months war service, junior partner William Goetz kept profits high by going for light entertainment. The studios—indeed the industrys—biggest star was creamy blonde Betty Grable, in 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio. Together with Zanuck, who returned in 1943, they intended to make Foxs output more serious-minded. During the next few years, with pictures like The Razors Edge, Wilson, Gentlemans Agreement, The Snake Pit, Boomerang, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams Leave Her to Heaven, starring Gene Tierney and they also made the 1958 film version of South Pacific
