Harry Warner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Warner in the film magazine Moving Picture World (1919)

Harold "Harry" Morris Warner (birth name: Hirsch Moses Wonsal ; born December 12, 1881 in Krasnosielc , then Russian Empire , now Poland ; † July 25, 1958 in Hollywood , California ) was an American film producer from Poland and one of the four Warner Brothers . At the Academy Awards in 1939 he was awarded an honorary Oscar .

Life

Harold Warner, born in Poland as the Hirsch Moses Wonsal, was the oldest of twelve children who immigrated to the USA with their parents . Together with his younger brother Samuel , he founded a cinema in 1903 and soon afterwards a company that showed films at fairs . In 1910 this became the film distribution company Warners Features Inc., which was reorganized as United Film Service in 1915.

In 1918 Harry and Sam and their other brothers Jack and Albert founded their first film studio on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and finally Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. in Hollywood in 1923, from which today's Warner Bros. emerged . He served as president of this company, while Sam Warner was chief executive officer (CEO), Albert Warner was chief financial officer and Jack L. Warner was responsible for film production .

At the Academy Awards in 1939 he was awarded “In recognition of patriotic service in the production of historical short subjects presenting significant episodes in the early struggle of the American people for liberty ') was awarded an honorary Oscar. Two years later, however, in 1941 in Washington, DC , he had to testify before a commission to investigate cinematographic propaganda and thereby defend his film productions, since he was accused of promoting " militarism and warmongering " through his works .

His marriage to Rea Levinson two children were born: on the one hand, his son Lewis J. Warner, but in 1931 died at the age of 22, the other the daughter of Doris Warner, the 1934-1942 with the film producer Mervyn LeRoy was married .

On February 8, 1960, in his honor, a "star" was posthumously unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the film category , which is located on 6441 Hollywood Boulevard .

Web links