Joseph M. Schenck
Joseph Michael Schenck (/ˈskɛŋk/; December 25, 1876[1] – October 22, 1961) was a Russian-born American film studio executive.
Life and career
Schenck was born to a Jewish family[2] in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian Empire. He emigrated to New York City on July 19, 1892, under the name Ossip Schenker;[3] and with his younger brother Nicholas eventually got into the entertainment business, operating concessions at New York's Fort George Amusement Park. Recognizing the potential, in 1909 the Schenck brothers purchased Palisades Amusement Park and afterward became participants in the fledgling motion picture industry in partnership with Marcus Loew, operating a chain of movie theaters.
In 1916, through his involvement in the film business, Joseph Schenck met and married Norma Talmadge, a top young star with Vitagraph Studios. He would be the first of her three husbands, but she was his only wife. Schenck supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother.[4] In 1917 the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. They divorced in 1934; Schenck then built a home in Palm Springs, California.[4][5]
After parting ways with his brother, Joseph Schenck moved to the West Coast where the future of the film industry seemed to lie. Within a few years Schenck was made the second president of the new United Artists.[6]
The Political Graveyard reports that he was an alternate delegate from California to the 1928 Republican National Convention.[citation needed]
In 1933 he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck to form Twentieth Century Pictures to produce motion pictures for United Artists, until 20th Century merged with Fox Film in 1935. As chairman of the new 20th Century Fox, he was one of the most powerful and influential people in the film business. Caught in a payoff scheme to buy peace with the militant unions, he was convicted of income tax evasion and spent time in prison before being granted a presidential pardon. Following his release, he returned to 20th Century Fox where he became infatuated with the unknown Marilyn Monroe, and played a key role in launching her career.[7]
Honors
One of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in 1952 he was given a special Academy Award in recognition of his contribution to the development of the film industry. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6757 Hollywood Blvd.
Death
Schenck retired in 1957 and shortly afterward suffered a stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He died in Los Angeles in 1961 at the age of 84, and was interred in Maimonides Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
References
- ^ "All Citizenship & Naturalization Records results for Joseph Schenck". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on Jun 13, 2018.
- ^ Brook, Vincent (December 15, 2016). From Shtetl to Stardom: Jews and Hollywood: Chapter 1: Still an Empire of Their Own: How Jews Remain Atop a Reinvented Hollywood. Purdue University Press. p. 17. ISBN 9781557537638. Archived from the original on Dec 14, 2020.
- ^ "Ossip Scheincker". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on Jun 13, 2018.
- ^ a b Basinger, Jeanine (2000). Silent Stars. Wesleyan University Press. p. 144. ISBN 0-8195-6451-6.
- ^ Meeks, Eric G. (2012). The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 163. ISBN 978-1479328598.
- ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith His Life and Work, 1985.
- ^ Pener, Degen (29 October 2011). "Drugs, Affairs and Secret Divorces: Inside the Scandalous History of the Holmby Hills Estate Once Owned by Tony Curtis, Cher and Sonny Bono". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
External links
- Joseph M. Schenck at IMDb
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- Warner Bros. / Charlie Chaplin (1928)
- Walt Disney (1932)
- Shirley Temple (1934)
- D. W. Griffith (1935)
- The March of Time / W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson (1936)
- Edgar Bergen / W. Howard Greene / Museum of Modern Art Film Library / Mack Sennett (1937)
- J. Arthur Ball / Walt Disney / Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney / Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Devereaux Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren L. Ryder, Harry D. Mills, Louis Mesenkop, Walter Oberst / Oliver T. Marsh and Allen Davey / Harry Warner (1938)
- Douglas Fairbanks / Judy Garland / William Cameron Menzies / Motion Picture Relief Fund (Jean Hersholt, Ralph Morgan, Ralph Block, Conrad Nagel)/ Technicolor SA (1939)
- Bob Hope / Nathan Levinson (1940)
- Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA Manufacturing Company / Leopold Stokowski and his associates / Rey Scott / British Ministry of Information (1941)
- Charles Boyer / Noël Coward / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1942)
- George Pal (1943)
- Bob Hope / Margaret O'Brien (1944)
- Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg, and the Republic Studio Sound Department / Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner (1945)
- Harold Russell / Laurence Olivier / Ernst Lubitsch / Claude Jarman Jr. (1946)
- James Baskett / Thomas Armat, William Nicholas Selig, Albert E. Smith, and George Kirke Spoor / Bill and Coo / Shoeshine (1947)
- Walter Wanger / Monsieur Vincent / Sid Grauman / Adolph Zukor (1948)
- Jean Hersholt / Fred Astaire / Cecil B. DeMille / The Bicycle Thief (1949)
- Louis B. Mayer / George Murphy / The Walls of Malapaga (1950)
- Gene Kelly / Rashomon (1951)
- Merian C. Cooper / Bob Hope / Harold Lloyd / George Mitchell / Joseph M. Schenck / Forbidden Games (1952)
- 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation / Bell & Howell Company / Joseph Breen / Pete Smith (1953)
- Bausch & Lomb Optical Company / Danny Kaye / Kemp Niver / Greta Garbo / Jon Whiteley / Vincent Winter / Gate of Hell (1954)
- Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
- Eddie Cantor (1956)
- Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers / Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson / Charles Brackett / B. B. Kahane (1957)
- Maurice Chevalier (1958)
- Buster Keaton / Lee de Forest (1959)
- Gary Cooper / Stan Laurel / Hayley Mills (1960)
- William L. Hendricks / Fred L. Metzler / Jerome Robbins (1961)
- William J. Tuttle (1964)
- Bob Hope (1965)
- Yakima Canutt / Y. Frank Freeman (1966)
- Arthur Freed (1967)
- John Chambers / Onna White (1968)
- Cary Grant (1969)
- Lillian Gish / Orson Welles (1970)
- Charlie Chaplin (1971)
- Charles S. Boren / Edward G. Robinson (1972)
- Henri Langlois / Groucho Marx (1973)
- Howard Hawks / Jean Renoir (1974)
- Mary Pickford (1975)
- Margaret Booth (1977)
- Walter Lantz / Laurence Olivier / King Vidor / Museum of Modern Art Department of Film (1978)
- Hal Elias / Alec Guinness (1979)
- Henry Fonda (1980)
- Barbara Stanwyck (1981)
- Mickey Rooney (1982)
- Hal Roach (1983)
- James Stewart / National Endowment for the Arts (1984)
- Paul Newman / Alex North (1985)
- Ralph Bellamy (1986)
- Eastman Kodak Company / National Film Board of Canada (1988)
- Akira Kurosawa (1989)
- Sophia Loren / Myrna Loy (1990)
- Satyajit Ray (1991)
- Federico Fellini (1992)
- Deborah Kerr (1993)
- Michelangelo Antonioni (1994)
- Kirk Douglas / Chuck Jones (1995)
- Michael Kidd (1996)
- Stanley Donen (1997)
- Elia Kazan (1998)
- Andrzej Wajda (1999)
- Jack Cardiff / Ernest Lehman (2000)
- Sidney Poitier / Robert Redford (2001)
- Peter O'Toole (2002)
- Blake Edwards (2003)
- Sidney Lumet (2004)
- Robert Altman (2005)
- Ennio Morricone (2006)
- Robert F. Boyle (2007)
- Lauren Bacall / Roger Corman / Gordon Willis (2009)
- Kevin Brownlow / Jean-Luc Godard / Eli Wallach (2010)
- James Earl Jones / Dick Smith (2011)
- D. A. Pennebaker / Hal Needham / George Stevens Jr. (2012)
- Angela Lansbury / Steve Martin / Piero Tosi (2013)
- Jean-Claude Carrière / Hayao Miyazaki / Maureen O'Hara (2014)
- Spike Lee / Gena Rowlands (2015)
- Jackie Chan / Lynn Stalmaster / Anne V. Coates / Frederick Wiseman (2016)
- Charles Burnett / Owen Roizman / Donald Sutherland / Agnès Varda (2017)
- Marvin Levy / Lalo Schifrin / Cicely Tyson (2018)
- David Lynch / Wes Studi / Lina Wertmüller (2019)
- Samuel L. Jackson / Elaine May / Liv Ullmann (2021)
- Euzhan Palcy / Diane Warren / Peter Weir (2022)
- Angela Bassett / Mel Brooks / Carol Littleton (2023)