Dore Schary

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Isidore Schary (born August 31, 1905 in Newark , New Jersey, † July 7, 1980 in New York City ) was an American writer, screenwriter and film producer. From 1951 to 1956 he was the studio head of the Hollywood film production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Life

Schary's parents, Herman Hugo and Belle (Drachler) Schary, were Russian-Jewish immigrants and ran a delicatessen in Newark. Schary attended Central High School in Newark, dropped out of Central High School at fourteen and worked part-time, but returned to school after realizing that without training he would get stuck. From 1928 on he belonged to changing acting troupes, where he played small stage roles and began to write plays.

Columbia Pictures hired him as a screenwriter in 1932, but left the company the following year to work as a freelance screenwriter. Schary won an Oscar in 1939 with his script for the film Teufelskerle . From 1941, in addition to his script work, he also worked as a producer for the B-movie section of MGM, which he left in 1943 to work for David O. Selznick . In 1947 Schary became a producer at RKO .

In 1948, MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer hired Schary as head of production, but in the following years argued with him about the company's philosophy. While Mayer preferred lush and pleasing entertainment films, Schary tended towards productions that, in Mayer's opinion, contained too much "message". After the company  fell into crisis at the end of the 1940s due to legal attacks on the trust structure of the film company and competition from the young medium of television , Schary replaced Mayer as MGM President in 1951 . However, he only held this position for five years. In 1956, the previous Vice President Benjamin Thau became his successor.

In 1958, Schary founded his own production company, Schary Productions , which, however, only produced three films by 1963. He also continued to write screenplays and Broadway plays, including Sunrise at Campobello , a play about Franklin D. Roosevelt's struggle with his paralysis, which won four Tony Awards when it premiered in 1958 . In 1960 Schary produced a film adaptation ( Sunrise at Campobello ). A little later, he directed a film for the only time himself, namely in the Moss Hart biography Act One (1963).

Throughout his career as a film manager, Schary, who was close to the Democrats , was politically active. During the McCarthy era , he was a widely perceived opponent of blacklisting . In 1952 and 1956 he supported the presidential candidacy of Adlai Stevenson . From 1963 to 1969 he was chairman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League . At the same time he was also cultural officer in the administration of New York Mayor John Lindsay .

Schary had been married to the artist Miriam Svet since 1932 and had three children with her. He died in his New York home and is buried in Hebrew Cemetery in West Long Branch , New Jersey .

Filmography (selection)

script
production

Awards

effect

The Anti-Defamation League created a Dore Schary Award in 1982 , a prize that has been awarded annually to young film artists who have made special contributions to human rights and the fight against prejudice.

Publications by Dore Schary (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Hollywood Antitrust Case
  2. ^ Dore Schary Find a Grave
  3. ↑ Official website ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.adl.org
personal data
SURNAME Schary, Dore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schary, Isidore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, screenwriter and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1980
Place of death New York City