James H. Nicholson

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James Harvey Nicholson (born September 14, 1916 in Seattle , United States , † December 10, 1972 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film producer and line producer.

Life

Science fiction fan Nicholson was already enthusiastic about films as a teenager and developed a great love for the B-film in particular. Together with a friend, he even published their own film magazine for fans . He attended Polytechnic High School in San Francisco. As a young adult, he remained true to his great hobby and initially found employment in 1933 at the El Rey Theater, a cinema in San Francisco. At the age of 18 he was a projectionist and owner of his own movie theater. In 1937 he also worked as a radio announcer. Nicholson later directed other halls, including revival cinemas in Los Angeles. Subsequently, the film company Realart Pictures Inc., which specializes in re-screenings, hired Nicholson and had him come up with advertising ideas for such films. In the early 1950s, Nicholson met lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff . The two became friends and in 1954 founded a joint film distributor under the name American Releasing Corporation, which they soon renamed American International Pictures (AIP).

With this company, the team that complemented each other perfectly - Nicholson took care of the cinematic and artistic matters while Arkoff took care of business matters - finally went into film production. With their output, Nicholson and Arkoff quickly became known as the "kings of low-budget film " ; Their main focus was on B-movies that could be produced quickly and cheaply with a high trash factor and some guarantee of success. The target group was the low - demanding and mostly young audience. The AIP production range included around two decades of sex and crime stories as well as horror films, science fiction stories and war dramas. Comedies were rarely among them.

Very often both men were responsible as executive producers, while the actual producer name went to others. From 1960 to 1964, Arkoff and Nicholson also participated in the production of Roger Corman's ambitious Edgar Allan Poe films. Corman was considered the most important creative AIP employee before he left the company in 1970 after Arkoff had Corman's film GAS-SSS re-edited against his will. James Nicholson left the company a year later. His last film completed during his lifetime was the British horror story Dance of the Skulls .

Nicholson died of a brain tumor in the preparation phase of the Peter Fonda film Kesse Mary - Crazy Larry , for which he also provided the story template. He had three daughters with his wife, actress Susan Hart (* 1941). His granddaughter Jill Messick (1967-2018), who perished by his own hands in early 2018 , took up his grandfather's profession and produced films.

Filmography

literature

  • International Motion Picture Almanac 1965, Quigley Publishing Company, New York 1964, p. 212

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nicholson, James H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nicholson, James Harvey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer and line producer
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Seattle , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1972
Place of death Los Angeles , California