Mark Hellinger

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Mark John Hellinger (born March 21, 1903 in New York City , † December 21, 1947 in Los Angeles ) was an American journalist and film producer .

life and work

After Hellinger had to leave Townsend Harris High School at the age of 15 because of the organization of a student strike, he hired himself as a waiter and copywriter until he joined the theater magazine Zit's Weekly in 1921 as a columnist . In 1923 he moved to the Daily News and in 1930 to the New York Daily Mirror , where his columns on the happenings behind the scenes on Broadway enjoyed great popularity. His personal acquaintances also included greats from the underworld like Dutch Schultz and Jack "Legs" Diamond.

1937 was Hellinger the offer, as a producer and writer for the film production company Warner Bros. to begin. He produced several smaller films and among other things provided the template for the script for the gangster film The Wild Twenties (1939). His first major success as a producer was Decision in the Sierra , which helped Humphrey Bogart's career advance. He returned to Warner after a brief interlude at 20th Century Fox . In 1944 Hellinger worked as a war correspondent for the Hearst press. He then founded his own film company and worked as an independent producer for Universal Studios , starting with Avengers of the Underworld, which premiered in 1946 . Hellinger did not live to see the premiere of his last completed film, City Without a Mask : At the end of 1947, he died of a heart attack at the age of only 44.

Filmography as a producer (selection)

Awards

Aftermath

In 1948, Anthony Brady Farrell, owner of the New York "Hollywood Theater", renamed his venue in honor of Hellinger, who had died shortly before, the "Mark Hellinger Theater". The theater remained in operation until the late 1980s.

Richard Brooks , a protégé of Hellinger, immortalized his sponsor in the 1951 novel The Producer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sam G. Riley: Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists. Greenwood Press, Westport, London 1995, pp. 129-130.
  2. ↑ Jim Bishop: The Mark Hellinger Story. A Biography of Broadway and Hollywood. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York 1952.
  3. ↑ Robert Siodmak, Hans C. Blumenberg (Ed.): Between Berlin and Hollywood. Memories of a great film director. Herbig, Munich 1980, pp. 117-127.
  4. ^ Marvin Wald, Albert Maltz, Matthew Joseph Bruccoli: The Naked City: A Screenplay. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1948, p. 146.
  5. ^ William Morrison: Broadway Theaters: History and Architecture. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York 1999, pp. 162-163.
  6. ↑ Mark Hellinger's biography on Allmovie.com, accessed December 25, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Hellinger, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hellinger, Mark John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1947
Place of death los Angeles