Ross Hunter
Ross Hunter (born May 6, 1920 as Martin T. Fuss in Cleveland , Ohio , United States , † March 10, 1996 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film producer .
Live and act
Hunter graduated from Western Reserve University and began working as a teacher. During World War II , he served in the US Army's intelligence department. In 1944 Hunter briefly returned to the teaching profession. After passing a film aptitude test at Paramount Pictures , Hunter, who had previously worked under his maiden name Martin Fuss, received an offer from the radio. The casting chief of Columbia Pictures then hired him, proposed that his name be changed to Ross Hunter and gave him several film roles.
Unsatisfied by the role offer, Hunter returned to teaching in 1949 and worked as an acting teacher at the Ben Bard Dramatic School. Then he switched to production, initially at the theater, where Hunter put the play Dream Girl on the legs at the San Fernando Valley Theater . In 1951 he was hired by Universal Studios for two weeks to reduce the production costs of the B-movie The Flame of Arabia . Hunter saved $ 172,000 and was hired as a permanent producer. Its most successful period began in the fall of 1952 with continuous collaboration with Universal in-house director Douglas Sirk . Both realized "a series of extremely cash-rich, tear-drenched emotions that primarily addressed a female audience."
His collaboration with the Hollywood excursionist Helmut Käutner ( Too Young, A Stranger in My Arms , 1958), on the other hand, disappointed across the board. But Hunter's collaborations with Doris Day - the comedy Bettgeflüster (1959) and the thriller Mitternachtsspitzen (1960) with Rock Hudson and Rex Harrison as the respective day partner - proved to be great successes.
With the film adaptation of Arthur Hailey's bestseller Airport , "a human disaster film", which was to set several film sequels about planes in acute emergency in motion, Hunter achieved another global success in 1970, which even earned him an Oscar nomination . On April 1, 1971, Ross Hunter, after 20 years of service with Universal, moved to Columbia, for which he was only supposed to produce one film: the "disastrous megaflop " Lost Horizon , the musical adaptation of the novel The Lost Horizon . It was his last cinema production. On October 1, 1974 Hunter changed employers again, this time going to Paramount, for whose television division he made films until the end of the decade. He then slowly retired.
Ross Hunter died of cancer in March 1996 at the age of 75. His longtime partner until Hunter's death was the set designer Jacques Mapes (1913–2002).
Filmography
As an actor
- 1944: Louisiana Hayride
- 1944: Ever Since Venus
- 1945: Hit the Hay
- 1945: The Bandit of Sherwood Forest
- 1946: Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
As a producer
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literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 113.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of the film . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 113.
- ↑ Mel Gussow: Ross Hunter, Film Producer, Is Dead at 75 . In: The New York Times . March 12, 1996, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed March 25, 2020]).
- ↑ Jacques Mapes, 88; Art Director Became Producer. May 10, 2002, Retrieved March 25, 2020 (American English).
Web links
- Ross Hunter in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hunter, Ross |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fuss, Martin T. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American film architect |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 6, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cleveland , Ohio , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 1996 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |