Sol Lesser

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Sol Lesser (born February 17, 1890 in Spokane , Washington , USA , † September 19, 1980 in Hollywood , California , USA ) was an American film producer and director .

Life

Sol Lesser, who was born in a tent, moved with his parents to San Francisco at the age of six weeks , where , at the age of 16, he witnessed the 1906 earthquake that is still known today . His father, who ran a candy store, was soon selling jukeboxes , a business that Sol also got into.

In 1913 he and Hal Mohr directed the short film Last Night of the Barbary Coast for the first and only time in his life . With this milieu study of an area of ​​San Francisco in which there were not only brothels but also gambling halls and saloons, Lesser became known overnight. With the money he earned from the income, he founded a small theater chain and his own cinema.

Inspired by media mogul Mack Sennett , Lesser went into production in 1919, and in 1922 he produced his first full-length feature film with Oliver Twist . In the 1920s, Lesser acted as a presenter and producer of several silent films shot in black and white until he was the producer of the post-production of Thunder over Mexico in 1931 . The film, directed by Russian Sergei Eisenstein, turned out to be a bold move as it rejected the anti-communism prevalent in the United States . This is probably one of the reasons why Lesser was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award , an honorary Oscar, in 1961.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Lesser produced predominantly westerns , and was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best film in 1941 for the film Our Town . His Principal Pictures Corp , founded in the late 1930s, acted as a production company.

In 1943 Lesser acquired the rights to Tarzan from Edgar Rice Burroughs , and in the following years produced the films that are still known today, in which Johnny Weissmüller , Lex Barker and Gordon Scott played the title character.

In 1958 Lesser withdrew surprisingly into private life in order to devote himself to his family. With his wife, Fay Grunauer, he had two children, daughter Marjorie and son Julian Lesser , who followed in his father's footsteps and produced some films at least in the 1950s.

Sol Lesser died of natural causes at the age of 90. A star on the Walk of Fame is dedicated to him.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Reiner Boller, Julian Lesser: Tarzan and Hollywood. From Johnny Weissmuller to Gordon Scott - the classic Tarzan films from producer Sol Lesser. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-499-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lesser, Sol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer and film director
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Spokane , Washington , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 1980
Place of death Hollywood , California , USA