Studio founders, producers, directors and performers who helped create Hollywood and the language of American film.
Mayer rose from theater ownership to co-found Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. Under his leadership MGM became one of Hollywood’s most prestigious studios, known for a large contract-star roster and a highly organized version of the studio system.
“If you work with the best, you will produce the best.”
Goldwyn came to the United States as a young immigrant and became one of Hollywood’s most important independent producers. His companies and productions helped establish feature filmmaking as a prestige business, culminating in films such as The Best Years of Our Lives.
“A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad.”
Zukor arrived in New York as a teenager and became a pioneer of feature-length motion pictures. He built Famous Players into the enterprise that evolved into Paramount Pictures and helped establish the vertically organized Hollywood studio system.
“If you have a good story and a good director, you have a good picture.”
Fox grew up on New York’s Lower East Side and built the Fox Film Corporation. His company became an important early adopter of sound-news and sound-film technology, and its legacy continued through the studio that became 20th Century Fox.
“The talking picture will take the place of a great deal of the other industries.”
Laemmle immigrated to the Midwest and later founded Universal Pictures. He fought the Edison-controlled patent system, helped strengthen independent film production and promoted performers by name, contributing to the rise of the Hollywood star system.
“Look at the man who is successful. The chances are a hundred to one he is earnest.”
Harry Warner, eldest of the Warner brothers, served as president of Warner Bros. and backed the company’s risky investment in synchronized sound. The success of The Jazz Singer in 1927 helped accelerate the industry-wide transition from silent pictures to talkies.
“I’m not interested in being understood. I’m interested in being successful.”
Jack Warner ran Hollywood production for Warner Bros. across much of the studio era. His tenure encompassed films from Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy to My Fair Lady and Bonnie and Clyde, giving the studio an unusually long run of cultural influence.
“I’ve never met a man I didn’t like, unless you count studio executives.”
Wilder fled Europe after the rise of Hitler and became one of Hollywood’s great writer-directors. His work ranged across film noir, comedy, drama and satire, including Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot and The Apartment.
“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”
Capra came to the United States from Sicily as a child and directed some of the most enduring films about ordinary Americans, civic ideals and democratic life. His work includes It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life.
“There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.”
Chaplin came to America with a touring music-hall company and created the Tramp, one of cinema’s most recognizable characters. As performer, writer, director and co-founder of United Artists, he helped establish film comedy and greater creative control for filmmakers.
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”