Walter Wanger

American film producer (1894–1968)

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Walter Wanger

Born|

Walter Feuchtwanger

(1894-07-11)July 11, 1894

San Francisco, California, U.S.

Died| November 18, 1968(1968-11-18) (aged 74)

New York City, New York, U.S.

Occupation| Film producer
Spouses|

Justine Johnstone

(m. 1919; div. 1938)​

Joan Bennett

(m. 1940; div. 1965)​

Children| 2

Walter Wanger (born Walter Feuchtwanger; July 11, 1894 – November 18, 1968) was an American film producer active from the 1910s, his career concluding with the turbulent production of Cleopatra, his last film, in 1963.[1] He began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and eventually worked at virtually every major studio as either a contract producer or an independent. He also served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1939 to October 1941 and from December 1941 to 1945. Strongly influenced by European films, Wanger developed a reputation as an intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas. He achieved notoriety when, in 1951, he shot and wounded the agent of his wife, Joan Bennett, because he suspected they were having an affair. He was convicted of the crime and served a four-month sentence, then returned to making movies.

After his death, his production company, Walter Wanger Productions, was sold to and absorbed by Time-Life Films, which also acquired many films produced by him and that company.

## Early life

[edit]

Wanger was born Walter Feuchtwanger in San Francisco. He was the son of Stella (Stettheimer) and Sigmund Feuchtwanger, who were from German Jewish families that had emigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century.[2] Wanger was from a non-observant Jewish family, and later attended Episcopalian services with his wife. In order to assimilate into American society, his mother altered the family name to Wanger in 1908.[3] The Wangers were well-connected and upper middle class, something which later differentiated Wanger from the other Jewish film moguls who came from more ordinary backgrounds.

Wanger attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was a founding member of the Dartmouth Laboratory Theatre. After leaving college, Wanger became a professional theatrical producer in New York City where he worked with figures such as the influential British manager Harley Granville-Barker and the Russian actress Alla Nazimova.[4]

Following the American entry into World War I in 1917, Wanger served with the U.S. Army in Italy initially in the Signal Corps where he worked as a pilot on reconnaissance missions,[5] and later in propaganda operations directed at the Italian public. It was during this period that Wanger first came into contact with filmmaking. In April 1918 Wanger was transferred to the Committee on Public Information, and joined an effort to combat anti-war or pro-German sentiment in Allied Italy. This was partly accomplished through a series of short propaganda films screened in Italian cinemas promoting democracy and Allied war aims.[6]

After the Allied victory, Wanger returned to the United States in 1919 and was discharged from the army. Wanger married silent film actress Justine Johnstone in 1919. He initially returned to theatre production, before a chance meeting with film producer Jesse Lasky drew him into the world of commercial filmmaking.[7] Lasky was impressed with Wanger's ideas and his experiences in the theatre, and hired him to head a New York office vetting and acquiring books and plays for use as film stories for Famous Players–Lasky (later to become Paramount), which was then the largest film production company in the world.[8]

## Early career

[edit]

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### Paramount

[edit]

Wanger's job at Paramount was to help meet the studio's large annual requirement for fresh stories. One of Wanger's major successes in his early years with the company was his identification of the British novel The Sheik as a story with potential. In 1921, it was turned into an extremely successful film starring Rudolph Valentino. The film helped establish the popularity of the Orientalist genre, which Wanger returned to a number of times during his career.[9]

By 1921, Wanger was unhappy with the terms he was receiving and left his job with Paramount. He travelled to Britain where he worked as a prominent cinema and theatre manager until 1924. While on a visit to London, Paramount key founder Jesse Lasky offered to appoint him as "general manager of production" on improved terms and Wanger accepted.[10]

Wanger's second spell with Paramount lasted from 1924 to 1931, during which time his annual wage rose from $150,000 to $250,000.[11] He was tasked with overseeing the work of the studio heads, which meant he had little involvement with the production of individual films. Because he was based in New York, Wanger worked more closely with the company's Astoria Studios in Queens. A rivalry developed between Wanger-influenced Astoria productions and those of B.P. Schulberg who ran the Paramount productions in Hollywood.[12] From the mid-1920s, the company was rapidly overtaken by the recently formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the industry's leading company and this along with heavy losses incurred on big-budget films, led to Paramount's executives decision in 1927 to eventually close the New York operation and shift all production to Hollywood. Wanger opposed this move and felt he was being squeezed out of the company.[13]

In 1926, Warner Brothers premièred Don Juan, a film with music and sound effects, and the following year released The Jazz Singer with dialogue and singing scenes. Along with other big companies, Paramount initially resisted adopting sound films and continued to exclusively make silent ones. Wanger convinced his colleagues of the importance of sound, and personally oversaw the conversion of 1928 silent baseball film Warming Up to sound.[14] The sound version had synchronized music and sound effects without dialogue.[15] After the film's successful release, the company switched dramatically away from silent to sound.

After being closed for a year, the Astoria Studios were re-opened in 1929 to make sound films, taking advantage of their close proximity to Broadway where many actors were recruited to appear in early Talkies. Wanger recruited large numbers of new performers including Maurice Chevalier, the Marx Brothers, Claudette Colbert, Jeanette MacDonald, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins and directors such as George Cukor and Rouben Mamoulian.[16] Wanger's New York films were often adapted from stage plays and focused on sophisticated comedies, often with European settings, while Schulberg concentrated on more populist stories in Hollywood. As the effects of the Great Depression hit the film industry in the early 1930s, the Astoria Studios increasingly struggled to produce box office hits, and in December 1931 it was closed down again. Wanger had been informed that his contract would not be renewed, and he had already left the company.[17]

### Columbia

[edit]

After leaving Paramount, Wanger tried unsuccessfully to set himself up as an independent. Unable to secure financing for films, he joined Columbia Pictures in December 1931. Wanger was recruited by Harry Cohn, the studio's co-founder, who wanted to move Columbia away from its Poverty Row past by producing several special, large-budget productions each year to complement the bulk of the studio's low-budget films.[18] Wanger was to take on a greater personal role in individual films than he had previously, although he always attempted to give directors and screenwriters creative freedom. In general his efforts were overshadowed by the more successful films made by Frank Capra for the studio.

## Success at MGM and independent producer

[edit]

After Wanger left Columbia, he worked on two successful films at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, which was the most successful Hollywood studio at the time. His best known work there is Queen Christina, a costume drama starring MGM's top female star at the time, Greta Garbo. Wanger was responsible for enlisting director Rouben Mamoulian to direct the picture and when released to theatre's in 1933, Queen Christina was a huge success, bringing a profit of over $600,000 and garnering much critical acclaim, establishing Wanger as a successful Hollywood producer. His other film at the studio was Gabriel Over the White House, which starred Walter Huston as the president of the United States who becomes a fascist maintaining world peace after a car accident. Wanger would become well known for his education over entertainment pictures that often carried social messages and while Gabriel Over the White House became a critical and commercial hit, it faded into obscurity due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power that same year.

Wanger, now established as a Hollywood producer, set himself up as independent for a second time, more successfully. His pictures reached a commercial and critical peak form the late 30's to the mid 40's with films like Algiers, Stagecoach, Foreign Correspondent, Arabian Nights, and Scarlet Street under his belt with his Walter Wanger Productions. He was able to obtain a contract star with Charles Boyer who signed to the producer in 1935 for a 5 year contract. He was made a star under Wanger with films like Shanghai and his famous performance as thief on the run Pepe Le Moko in Algiers which garnered Boyer an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a leading role. Wanger also collaborated with German director Fritz Lang on films like Scarlet Street which was a huge hit for the duo. Wanger pioneered social commentary in films and also introduced the first Technicolor film to be filmed outdoors with The Trail of the Lonesome Pine which made Henry Fonda and Fred MacMurray stars. Wanger was also a huge help to Universal Pictures in the 1940s, introducing Technicolor to them with Arabian Nights, as well as producing the aforementioned Scarlet Street for them, and other hits like Eagle Squadron.

## Later career

[edit]

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Wanger was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1946 for his six years service as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He refused another honorary Oscar in 1949 for Joan of Arc, out of anger over the fact that the film, which he felt was one of his best, had not been nominated for Best Picture.[19]

His 1958 production of I Want to Live! starred Susan Hayward in an anti-capital punishment film that is one of the more highly regarded films on the subject. Hayward won her only Oscar for her role in the film.

In 1963, Wanger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for his production of Cleopatra.

In May 1966, Wanger received the Commendation of the Order of Merit, Italy's third-highest honor, from Consul General Alvaro v. Bettrani, "for your friendship and cooperation with the Italian government in all phases of the motion picture industry."[20]

## Personal life and death

[edit]

Wanger married silent film actress Justine Johnstone in 1919.[citation needed] They divorced in 1938, and in 1940, he married actress Joan Bennett whom he divorced in 1965. They had two daughters, Stephanie (born 1943) and Shelley Antonia (born 1948), and Wanger adopted Bennett's daughter, Diana (born 1928), by her marriage to John Fox.

Wanger died of a heart attack, aged 74, in New York City. He was interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, California.[21]

## Scandal

[edit]

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In 1951, Wanger made headlines for shooting at Jennings Lang, agent of Wanger's wife Joan Bennett. Formerly the vice president of the Jaffe Agency, Lang had become the head of MCA's West Coast television operations. On the afternoon of December 13, 1951, Bennett and Lang had a meeting to talk over an upcoming television show.

Wanger, who saw the parked car of his wife, waited there until Bennett came back to her car, in company of Lang. In a fit of jealousy Wanger walked up and shot and wounded Lang. One bullet hit him in the right thigh, near the hip, and the other penetrated his groin. Lang was taken to a hospital, where he recovered. The police, who had heard the shots, came to the scene and found the gun in Bennett's car when they took Wanger into custody. Wanger was booked and fingerprinted, and underwent lengthy questioning. He was booked on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder.

"I shot him because I thought he was breaking up my home," Wanger told the chief of police of Beverly Hills. Bennett denied a romance, however. "But if Walter thinks the relationships between Mr. Lang and myself are romantic or anything but strictly business, he is wrong," she declared. She blamed the trouble on financial setbacks involving film productions Wanger was involved with, and said he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The following day Wanger, out on bond, returned to their Holmby Hills home, collected his belongings and moved out. Bennett, however, said there would not be a divorce.

On December 14, Bennett issued a statement in which she said she hoped her husband "will not be blamed too much" for wounding her agent. Wanger's attorney, Jerry Giesler, mounted a "temporary insanity" defense. Wanger served a four-month sentence in the County Honor Farm at Castaic. During this time period Walter Mirisch of Allied Artists had Wanger's name put on Kansas Pacific (1953) as a producer, although he was still in prison. This allowed Wanger to receive a producer's billing, salary and profit participation.[22] The entire experience with the criminal charges and jail sentence affected Wanger profoundly, and in 1954 he made the prison film Riot in Cell Block 11.

## Partial filmography

[edit]

* The Sheik (1921)
* The Cocoanuts (1929)
* The Lady Lies (1929)
* Roadhouse Nights (1930)
* Tarnished Lady (1931)
* Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
* Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
* The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
* Going Hollywood (1933)
* Queen Christina (1933)
* The President Vanishes (1934)
* Private Worlds (1935)
* Every Night at Eight (1935)
* Shanghai (1935)
* Palm Springs (1936)
* The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
* History Is Made at Night (1937)
* Stand-In (1937)
* Blockade (1938)
* Trade Winds (1938)
* I Met My Love Again (1938)
* Stagecoach (1939)
* Eternally Yours (1939)
* Foreign Correspondent (1940)
* Slightly Honorable (1940)
* The Long Voyage Home (1940)
* The House Across the Bay (1940)

* Sundown (1941)
* Eagle Squadron (1942)
* Arabian Nights (1942)
* We've Never Been Licked (1943)
* Gung Ho! (1943)
* Ladies Courageous (1944)
* Salome Where She Danced (1945)
* Scarlet Street (1945)
* Night in Paradise (1946)
* Canyon Passage (1946)
* Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
* The Lost Moment (1947)
* Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
* Tap Roots (1948)
* Joan of Arc (1948)
* Tulsa (1949)
* Reign of Terror (aka The Black Book) (1949)
* The Reckless Moment (1949)
* Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
* Battle Zone (1952)
* Kansas Pacific (1953)
* Fort Vengeance (1953)
* Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
* The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)
* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
* Navy Wife (1956)
* I Want to Live! (1958)
* Cleopatra (1963)

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## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Wanger, Walter". Britannica.
2. ^ "Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids". Digicoll.library.wisc.edu. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
3. ^ Bernstein 2000, p. 6.
4. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 23–30.
5. ^ Bernstein 2000, p. 31.
6. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 31–35.
7. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 35–41.
8. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 41–43.
9. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 44–46.
10. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 49–53.
11. ^ Bernstein 2000, p. 54.
12. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 60–61.
13. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 62–63.
14. ^ Bernstein 2000, p. 63.
15. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Warming Up at silentera.com
16. ^ Bernstein 2000, p. 65.
17. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 68–69.
18. ^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 75–77.
19. ^ Booker, Keith M. (March 17, 2011). Historical Dictionary of American Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810874596.
20. ^ Bernstein, Matthew (1994). Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781452904689.
21. ^ Walter Wanger at IMDb
22. ^ p. 49 Mirisch, Walter I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History 2008 University of Wisconsin Press

### Bibliography

[edit]

## Sources

[edit]

* Bernstein, Matthew. Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent. St. Paul, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-52008-127-7.
* Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. ISBN 978-0-39453-979-9.

* Chrissochoidis, Ilias (ed.). The Cleopatra Files: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive. Stanford, 2013. ISBN 978-0-61582-919-7.

## Book

[edit]

* My Life with Cleopatra, by Walter Wanger and Joe Hyams. Publisher: Bantam, 1963. ASIN: B0007EIVZ0
* My Life with Cleopatra: The Making of a Hollywood Classic, by Walter Wanger, Joe Hyams and Kenneth Turan (Afterword). Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition, 2013. ISBN 0345804058

## External links

[edit]

* Walter Wanger at IMDb
* Article on Wanger shooting Jennings Lang

Non-profit organization positions

Preceded by

Frank Capra

|  President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences
1939–1941  | Succeeded by

Bette Davis

Preceded by

Bette Davis

|  President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences
1941–1945  | Succeeded by

Jean Hersholt

Other offices
Preceded by

Bob Hope
12th Academy Awards

|  Oscars host
13th Academy Awards | Succeeded by

Bob Hope
14th Academy Awards

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Films produced by Walter Wanger

* The Sheik (1921)
* The Cocoanuts (1929)
* The Lady Lies (1929)
* Applause (1929)
* Roadhouse Nights (1930)
* Tarnished Lady (1931)
* Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
* Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
* The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
* Going Hollywood (1933)
* Another Language (1933)
* Queen Christina (1933)
* The President Vanishes (1934)
* Private Worlds (1935)
* Smart Girl (1935)
* Every Night at Eight (1935)
* Shanghai (1935)
* Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935)
* The Moon's Our Home (1936)
* Her Master's Voice (1936)
* The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936)
* Fatal Lady (1936)
* Palm Springs (1936)
* The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
* Big Brown Eyes (1936)
* Spendthrift (1936)
* You Only Live Once (1937)
* Vogues of 1938 (1937)
* History Is Made At Night (1937)
* Stand-In (1937)
* 52nd Street (1937)
* Trade Winds (1938)
* Blockade (1938)
* Algiers (1938)
* I Met My Love Again (1938)
* Stagecoach (1939)
* Winter Carnival (1939)
* Eternally Yours (1939)
* Foreign Correspondent (1940)
* The Long Voyage Home (1940)
* Slightly Honorable (1940)
* The House Across the Bay (1940)
* Sundown (1941)
* Eagle Squadron (1942)
* Arabian Nights (1942)
* We've Never Been Licked (1943)
* Gung Ho! (1943)
* Ladies Courageous (1944)
* Scarlet Street (1945)
* Salome, Where She Danced (1945)
* Night in Paradise (1946)
* Canyon Passage (1946)
* Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
* The Lost Moment (1947)
* Tap Roots (1948)
* Joan of Arc (1948)
* Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
* The Reckless Moment (1949)
* Reign of Terror (1949)
* Tulsa (1949)
* Aladdin and His Lamp (1952)
* Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
* Battle Zone (1952)
* Fort Vengeance (1953)
* Kansas Pacific (1953)
* Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
* The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)
* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
* Navy Wife (1956)
* I Want to Live! (1958)
* Cleopatra (1963)

* v
* t
* e

Academy Honorary Award

1928–1950|

* Warner Bros. / Charlie Chaplin (1928)
* Walt Disney (1932)
* Shirley Temple (1934)
* D. W. Griffith (1935)
* The March of Time / W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson (1936)
* Edgar Bergen / W. Howard Greene / Museum of Modern Art Film Library / Mack Sennett (1937)
* J. Arthur Ball / Walt Disney / Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney / Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Devereaux Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren L. Ryder, Harry D. Mills, Louis Mesenkop, Walter Oberst / Oliver T. Marsh and Allen Davey / Harry Warner (1938)
* Douglas Fairbanks / Judy Garland / William Cameron Menzies / Motion Picture Relief Fund (Jean Hersholt, Ralph Morgan, Ralph Block, Conrad Nagel) / Technicolor SA (1939)
* Bob Hope / Nathan Levinson (1940)
* Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA Manufacturing Company / Leopold Stokowski and his associates / Rey Scott / British Ministry of Information (1941)
* Charles Boyer / Noël Coward / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1942)
* George Pal (1943)
* Bob Hope / Margaret O'Brien (1944)
* Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg, and the Republic Studio Sound Department / Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner (1945)
* Harold Russell / Laurence Olivier / Ernst Lubitsch / Claude Jarman Jr. (1946)
* James Baskett / Thomas Armat, William Nicholas Selig, Albert E. Smith, and George Kirke Spoor / Bill and Coo / Shoeshine (1947)
* Walter Wanger / Monsieur Vincent / Sid Grauman / Adolph Zukor (1948)
* Jean Hersholt / Fred Astaire / Cecil B. DeMille / The Bicycle Thief (1949)
* Louis B. Mayer / George Murphy / The Walls of Malapaga (1950)

1951–1975|

* Gene Kelly / Rashomon (1951)
* Merian C. Cooper / Bob Hope / Harold Lloyd / George Mitchell / Joseph M. Schenck / Forbidden Games (1952)
* 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation / Bell & Howell Company / Joseph Breen / Pete Smith (1953)
* Bausch & Lomb Optical Company / Danny Kaye / Kemp Niver / Greta Garbo / Jon Whiteley / Vincent Winter / Gate of Hell (1954)
* Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
* Eddie Cantor (1956)
* Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers / Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson / Charles Brackett / B. B. Kahane (1957)
* Maurice Chevalier (1958)
* Buster Keaton / Lee de Forest (1959)
* Gary Cooper / Stan Laurel / Hayley Mills (1960)
* William L. Hendricks / Fred L. Metzler / Jerome Robbins (1961)
* William J. Tuttle (1964)
* Bob Hope (1965)
* Yakima Canutt / Y. Frank Freeman (1966)
* Arthur Freed (1967)
* John Chambers / Onna White (1968)
* Cary Grant (1969)
* Lillian Gish / Orson Welles (1970)
* Charlie Chaplin (1971)
* Charles S. Boren / Edward G. Robinson (1972)
* Henri Langlois / Groucho Marx (1973)
* Howard Hawks / Jean Renoir (1974)
* Mary Pickford (1975)

1976–2000|

* Margaret Booth (1977)
* Walter Lantz / Laurence Olivier / King Vidor / Museum of Modern Art Department of Film (1978)
* Hal Elias / Alec Guinness (1979)
* Henry Fonda (1980)
* Barbara Stanwyck (1981)
* Mickey Rooney (1982)
* Hal Roach (1983)
* James Stewart / National Endowment for the Arts (1984)
* Paul Newman / Alex North (1985)
* Ralph Bellamy (1986)
* Eastman Kodak Company / National Film Board of Canada (1988)
* Akira Kurosawa (1989)
* Sophia Loren / Myrna Loy (1990)
* Satyajit Ray (1991)
* Federico Fellini (1992)
* Deborah Kerr (1993)
* Michelangelo Antonioni (1994)
* Kirk Douglas / Chuck Jones (1995)
* Michael Kidd (1996)
* Stanley Donen (1997)
* Elia Kazan (1998)
* Andrzej Wajda (1999)
* Jack Cardiff / Ernest Lehman (2000)

2001–present|

* Sidney Poitier / Robert Redford (2001)
* Peter O'Toole (2002)
* Blake Edwards (2003)
* Sidney Lumet (2004)
* Robert Altman (2005)
* Ennio Morricone (2006)
* Robert F. Boyle (2007)
* Lauren Bacall / Roger Corman / Gordon Willis (2009)
* Kevin Brownlow / Jean-Luc Godard / Eli Wallach (2010)
* James Earl Jones / Dick Smith (2011)
* D. A. Pennebaker / Hal Needham / George Stevens Jr. (2012)
* Angela Lansbury / Steve Martin / Piero Tosi (2013)
* Jean-Claude Carrière / Hayao Miyazaki / Maureen O'Hara (2014)
* Spike Lee / Gena Rowlands (2015)
* Jackie Chan / Lynn Stalmaster / Anne V. Coates / Frederick Wiseman (2016)
* Charles Burnett / Owen Roizman / Donald Sutherland / Agnès Varda (2017)
* Marvin Levy / Lalo Schifrin / Cicely Tyson (2018)
* David Lynch / Wes Studi / Lina Wertmüller (2019)
* Samuel L. Jackson / Elaine May / Liv Ullmann (2021)
* Euzhan Palcy / Diane Warren / Peter Weir (2022)
* Angela Bassett / Mel Brooks / Carol Littleton (2023)
* Quincy Jones / Juliet Taylor (2024)

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