Sid Grauman

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Sid Grauman (ca.1930)

Sidney Patrick Grauman ( listening ? / I ) (born March 17, 1879 in Indianapolis , Indiana , † March 5, 1950 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American entrepreneur and film actor . Audio file / audio sample

Life

Grauman's father, David Grauman, followed like other adventurous men in the train of the Klondike gold rush of the temptation to get rich, and therefore moved with his family to Dawson City ( Canada ), where the young Sid spent his childhood and youth.

It was here that he learned to be entrepreneurial at an early age and even stayed in Canada when his father moved back to the United States in the fall of 1899. Together with the promoter Tex Rickard , also from the USA, Grauman organized boxing events for miners and earned a lot of money through speculation and betting. After almost two years of living alone in Canada, Grauman returned to the United States in late 1900 and settled in California.

A short time later, Grauman saw one of his first feature films in a movie theater in San Francisco and decided to invest in the film. With his father, Grauman acquired two theaters, The Unique and, a few years later, The Lyceum . But the San Francisco earthquake in April 1906 caused great economic damage to the Graumans as both houses were completely destroyed. Still, Grauman's invested more money, and by 1915 owned several movie theaters in northern California and one in New York City .

In 1917 Grauman moved to Los Angeles , where he built the Million Dollar Theater the following year with a budget of one million US dollars . Another theater built with funding from Grauman, The Egyptian opened in October 1922 and was the first theater to premiere in Hollywood . His next project was to be his most famous building. With the support of the US government and with the help of the Republic of China , Grauman's Chinese Theater was opened in May 1927 . Today it is one of the most visited places in Los Angeles. Also new was the tradition that Grauman established with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in April 1927 when they left their handprints in the damp cement on the pavement outside the theater. Just a month later, in May 1927, Grauman was one of the 36 founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , the organization that is still responsible for the annual Academy Awards , among other things .

Although Grauman was mainly an entrepreneur, he was also three times in his life as an actor in smaller cameo appearances in front of the camera, including in 1925 in Gold Rush at the side of Charles Chaplin .

Little is known about Sid Grauman's personal life. He was married at least once.

He died of an artery obstruction in March 1950, a few weeks before his 71st birthday .

Filmography as an actor (selection)

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grauman, Sid
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grauman, Sidney Patrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1950
Place of death Beverly Hills , California