Hunt Stromberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hunt Stromberg (born July 12, 1894 in Louisville , Kentucky , USA , † August 23, 1968 in Santa Monica , California , USA ) was an American film producer .

Life

Before Hunt Stromberg entered the film business, he worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Times . In the early 1920s, he began producing light comedies with his own production company. In his short films, the ex-wrestler Bull Montana, a born Italian with the real name Luigi Montagna, made an appearance. Stromberg also directed some of these films.

From 1925 Stromberg turned to more serious film topics. Westerns and dramas were now also part of his repertoire, whereby he increasingly devoted himself to full-length films. In 1928 he made the film White Shadows , in which he first worked with the director WS Van Dyke . Stromberg later produced four of the five parts of his Thin Man crime series with William Powell and Myrna Loy . In the production of White Shadow Stromberg was supported by MGM , for which he then worked as a producer.

Stromberg celebrated his greatest successes at MGM. In 1937, he received the Oscar for best film for Der große Ziegfeld . At the time he was among the ten highest paid Americans. When Irving Thalberg died in 1936 and Louis B. Mayer took over the chairmanship of the company, Stromberg's successes declined. In the mid-1940s he left MGM because Mayer didn't want to support independent producers. Stromberg's move to United Artists , however, was unsuccessful. His other films could no longer follow up on the successes of his time at MGM, which is related to the budget constraint that he never suffered from at MGM.

Despite the lack of success, Stromberg was a rich man. He made a lot of money outside of the film industry by investing in racetracks in Hollywood and Santa Anita. When his wife Katherine died in 1951, Hunt Stromberg withdrew from the film business.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stromberg, Hunt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Louisville , Kentucky , USA
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1968
Place of death Santa Monica , California , USA