Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck

Born: September 5, 1902
Died: December 22, 1979
in Wahoo, Nebraska, USA
Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902 – December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture during his tenure.

Zanuck was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, the son of Sarah Louise (née Torpin), who later married Charles Norton, and Frank Harvey Zanuck, who owned and operated a hotel in Wahoo. He had an older brother, Donald (1893–1903), who died in an accident when he was only 9 years old. Zanuck was of partial Swiss descent, and raised a Protestant. At age six, Zanuck and his mother moved to Los Angeles, where the better climate could improve her poor health. At age eight, he found his first movie job as an extra, but his disapproving father recalled him to Nebraska. In 1917, despite being 15, he deceived a recruiter, joined the United States Army, and served in France with the Nebraska National Guard during World War I.

Upon returning to the US, he worked in many part-time jobs while seeking work as a writer. He found work producing movie plots, and sold his first story in 1922 to William Russell and his second to Irving Thalberg. Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas, story editor at Universal Pictures' New York office, stated that one of the stories Zanuck sent out to movie studios around this time was completely plagiarized from another author's work.

Zanuck then worked for Mack Sennett and FBO (where he wrote the serials The Telephone Girl and The Leather Pushers) and took that experience to Warner Bros., where he wrote stories for Rin Tin Tin and under a number of pseudonyms wrote over 40 scripts from 1924 to 1929, including Red Hot Tires (1925) and Old San Francisco (1927). He moved into management in 1929, and became head of production in 1931.

In 1933, Zanuck left Warner Bros. over a salary dispute with studio head Jack L. Warner. A few days later, he partnered with Joseph Schenck to form 20th Century Pictures, Inc. with financial help from Joseph's brother Nicholas Schenck and Louis B. Mayer, president and studio head of Loew's, Inc and its subsidiary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, along with William Goetz and Raymond Griffith. 20th Century released its material through United Artists.

During that short time (1933–1935), 20th Century became the most successful independent movie studio of its time, breaking box-office records with 18 of its 19 films, all profitable, including Clive of India, Les Miserables, and The House of Rothschild. After a dispute with United Artists over stock ownership, Schenck and Zanuck negotiated and used their studio to bring the bankrupt Fox studios in 1935 to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.

Zanuck was Vice President of Production of this new studio and took a hands-on approach, closely involving himself in scripts, film editing, and producing. ... Source: Article "Darryl F. Zanuck" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Darryl F. Zanuck...

Rat Pack
Title: Rat Pack
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 11, 2022
Type: Movie
In the 1950s, a small group of artists monopolized the attention of the cameras and the public. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford together form the "rat pack": they sing the most popular hits of the moment, star in the most profitable Hollywood films and are already making a splash on television . This documentary, produced by a recognized specialist in the history of Hollywood, recounts the exceptional destiny of this informal group which flirted with the greats of this world, notably through Sinatra, personal friend of American President Kennedy.
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1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Title: 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 2, 2009
Type: Movie
This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
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42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Title: 42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 21, 2006
Type: Movie
Making-of documentary about the 1933 musical, 42nd Street.
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Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
Title: Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 17, 2005
Type: Movie
How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)
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Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement'
Title: Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement'
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 21, 2001
Type: Movie
Darryl F. Zanuck ignores the protests of his peers and makes a movie about antisemitism called "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947).
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Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Title: Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 3, 2001
Type: Movie
Documentary about the making of 20th Century Fox's 1963 film "Cleopatra," then the most expensive film of all time.
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Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
Title: Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 14, 2000
Type: Movie
Documentary about how the creative energies of Darryl F. Zanuck and John Ford combined to forge an enduring masterpiece despite the challenges of wartime production.
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Frank Capra's American Dream
Title: Frank Capra's American Dream
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1997
Type: Movie
A documentary looking at the life and career of film director Frank Capra. Hosted by Ron Howard.
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Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Title: Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 3, 1995
Type: Movie
A biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, mogul and the power behind 20th Century Fox throughout the Golden Age.
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The Casting Couch
Title: The Casting Couch
Character: (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
An unprecedented anthology of never-before-told true stories by and about some of Hollywood's most interesting stars, legends, and wannabes, and takes readers inside Hollywood's inner sanctum to show how casting decisions are made, who makes them, and who has the final word.
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John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Title: John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1989
Type: Movie
Biography of risk-taker and raconteur John Huston from his childhood to become one of the most highly respected filmmakers in the world.
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Title: The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
Released: June 6, 1968
Type: TV
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
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D-Day Revisited
Title: D-Day Revisited
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1968
Type: Movie
Darryl F. Zanuck revisits the places where 'The Longest Day' had filmed, with excepts from the movie and he tells the story of D-Day.
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Title: Cinépanorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1956
Type: TV
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The CinemaScope Parade
Title: The CinemaScope Parade
Character: Self
Released: November 1, 1951
Type: Movie
A short feature that showcases 20th Century Fox's new anamorphic widescreen film process.
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The Screen Writer
Title: The Screen Writer
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: September 13, 1950
Type: Movie
This short film focuses on the job of the Hollywood screenwriter.
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Title: What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Released: February 2, 1950
Type: TV
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.
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Show-Business at War
Title: Show-Business at War
Character: Self
Released: May 21, 1943
Type: Movie
A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.
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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Title: Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Character: Self
Released: July 31, 1940
Type: Movie
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
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The 42nd Street Special
Title: The 42nd Street Special
Character: Self
Released: February 20, 1933
Type: Movie
As part of a publicity campaign for the film 42nd Street (1933), Warner Bros. Pictures, with the assistance of the General Electric Corporation, assembled a 7-car gold- and silver-plated train they called "The 42nd. Street Special". With numerous Warner Bros. contract stars as passengers, the train made a tour across the USA. It was scheduled to make stops in more than 100 cities, ending in Washington, D.C. for the March 1933 inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. This short film records the send-off for this trip from Los Angeles' Santa Fe Station. Using a microphone set up on the rear platform of the last car, several people addressed the crowd attending the event. Those making remarks include performers, studio executives, and the mayor of Los Angeles.