- Born
- Died
- Birth nameSchmuel Gelbfisz
- Nicknames
- Mister Malaprop
- Samuel Goldfish
- Famed for his relentless ambition, bad temper and genius for publicity, Samuel Goldwyn became Hollywood's leading "independent" producer -- largely because none of his partners could tolerate him for long. Born Shmuel (or Schmuel) Gelbfisz, probably in 1879, in the Jewish section of Warsaw, he was the eldest of six children of a struggling used-furniture dealer. In 1895 he made his way to England, where relatives Anglicized his name to Samuel Goldfish. There he begged (or stole) enough money for a ticket in steerage across the Atlantic. He reached the US, probably via Canada, in 1898. He gravitated to Gloversville, New York, in the Adirondack foothills, which was then the capital of the US leather glove industry; he became one of the country's most successful glove salesmen. After moving his base of operations to Manhattan and marrying the sister of Jesse L. Lasky, who was then a theatrical producer, Goldfish convinced Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille to go into film production. The new company's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was one of the first features made in Hollywood; the company later became the nucleus of what would later become Paramount Pictures. As his marriage fell apart, Goldfish dissolved his partnership with Lasky. His next enterprise was the Goldwyn Co., founded in 1916 and named for himself and his partners, brothers Edgar Selwyn and Archibald Selwyn--Goldfish liked the name so much he took it for his own. The Goldwyn Co.'s stars included Mabel Normand, Madge Kennedy and Will Rogers, but its most famous legacy was its "Leo the Lion" trademark, which was adopted by its successor company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Goldwyn himself was ousted from his own company before the merger, which was why his name became part of MGM even though he himself had nothing to do with the company. After his firing Goldwyn would have nothing to do with partners and went into independent production on his own, and for 35 years was the boss and sole proprietor of his own production company, a mini-studio specializing in expensive "quality" films, distributed initially by United Artists and later by RKO. His contract actors at various times included Vilma Bánky, Ronald Colman, Eddie Cantor, Gary Cooper, David Niven and Danny Kaye. In some cases, Goldwyn collected substantial fees for "lending" his stars to other producers. Touted by publicists for his "Goldwyn touch" and loathed by many of his hirelings for his habit of ordering films recast, rewritten and recut, Goldwyn is best remembered for his films that teamed director William Wyler and cinematographer Gregg Toland.- IMDb Mini Biography By: David S. Smith
- SpousesFrances Howard(April 23, 1925 - January 31, 1974) (his death, 1 child)Blanche Lasky(May 8, 1910 - September 23, 1915) (divorced, 1 child)
- RelativesTony Goldwyn(Grandchild)
- In 1917 he merged his production company with All-Star Feature Films Corp., owned by brothers Edgar Selwyn and Archibald Selwyn, creating the Goldwyn Pictures Corp. The symbol of the new company was a reclining lion, surrounded by a banner made from a strip of celluloid film with the words "Ars Gratia Artis" ("Art for Art's Sake") at the top, which was designed by Howard Dietz. The trademark adorned the front gate of the studio's Culver City, CA, production facilities, which ranked with the finest in Hollywood (the inspiration for the original "Leo the Lion" likely were the stone lions at the New York Public Library on 44th St., which was across from the All-Star Feature Corp.'s offices). Goldfish liked the name of the new studio so much that he renamed himself Samuel Goldwyn. He was forced out of the company in 1922. It was merged with Loew's Inc.'s Metro Pictures in 1924 through a stock swap, creating Metro-Goldwyn, which subsequently merged with Louis B. Mayer Productions, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was born--even though Goldwyn himself had nothing to do with the company that bore his name (he tried legal action to prevent the new company from using it, but lost). Goldwyn, who had also been ousted from an earlier company he had owned, did not get along well with partners and remained an independent producer for the rest of his career.
- In the 1930s and 1940s the Hollywood studio system was dominated by a handful of men who ran their domains largely by themselves, and with an iron hand: Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Adolph Zukor (Paramount), Harry Cohn (Columbia), Carl Laemmle (Universal), Jack L. Warner (Warner Bros.), Herbert J. Yates (Republic), Darryl F. Zanuck (Warners in the 1930s and 20th Century-Fox in the 1940s) and Goldwyn and David O. Selznick as independent producers. By 1959 all of these men--with the exception of Warner--had either died, retired or been forced out of their own companies.
- His sayings, sometimes known as "Goldwynisms," were famous for their unintentional wit, which was partially as a result of his somewhat limited understanding of the English language that surfaced when he tried to comment on certain situations. There are many examples of this, such as "Include me out" or "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.".
- At one time he was scheduled to appear as the "Mystery Guest" on the TV game show What's My Line? (1950), in which panelists are blindfolded and have to guess who the Mystery Guest is. The show's rules required that panelists who found out the Mystery Guest's identity before he or she appeared on the show had to disqualify themselves. A few days before his scheduled appearance, Goldwyn ran into panelist Dorothy Kilgallen in a restaurant and said, "Guess what, Dorothy? I'm going to be on your show Sunday night!" She told him that since she now knew he would be the Mystery Guest, she'd have to disqualify herself. A few days later Goldwyn ran into Bennett Cerf, also a panelist on the show, and said, "Guess what, Bennett? I did a really dumb thing the other day and told Dorothy that I'm going to be on your show Sunday night!" Cerf also was forced to disqualify himself, resulting in the only double disqualification in the show's history.
- Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.
- A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
- In two words: im-possible.
- My wife's hands are very beautiful. I'm going to have a bust made of them.
- Include me out.
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