- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- The Quickie King
- Bob
- Robert L. Lippert, the son of a hardware store owner in Alameda, Califorinia, was born there shortly after the turn of this century. Having little interest in his father's business, young Lippert became enthralled with the new fascination of moving pictures. He began working odd jobs in the local movie house, soon working his way into the projection room. During this period he made many improvements on the projectors and developed new variations, many of which are still on display at the Alameda County museum. By the mid-'40s Lippert owned an extensive chain of theaters in California and Oregon. Around 1948 he decided to begin making his own pictures to show in his theaters. His first picture was Last of the Wild Horses (1948), which was also the only one he ever directed. He produced/released hundreds of movies from the late 1940s through the mid-'50s. Movie fans knew when they saw the "Lippert Pictures" logo on he screen that they were in for something different. During this period some real classics were put out by Lippert: Rocketship X-M (1950), Little Big Horn (1951), The Steel Helmet (1951) and The Tall Texan (1953), among others. In 1956 Lippert made a deal with 20th Century-Fox to finance and distribute his pictures, although under the newly created "Regal Films" label rather than "Lippert Pictures". Under this arrangement he turned out a string of low-budget westerns and crime thrillers, virtually all of which made money for both Lippert and Fox.
Robert Lippert may haver been a "B" movie producer, but he gave talented directors like Samuel Fuller and Charles Marquis Warren their starts, and while many of his pictures were routine, there were definitely some gems scattered among them.
He died in 1976.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Buxx Banner <buxx572@a0l.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpouseRuth Elizabeth Robinson(? - November 16, 1976) (his death, 2 children)
- In 1951 "Time" magazine dubbed Lippert "The Quickie King", in reference to the speed with which which he turned out movies.
- During the early 1950s Lippert formed a production company with Gary Cooper and Carl Foreman. When Foreman was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committe of being a Communist during the McCarthy witch Red Scare hysteria in the 1950s, pressure was placed on Cooper to withdraw from the deal; he eventually did so and the partnership dissolved.
- When his career as a low-budget film producer ended he returned to San Francisco and worked until late in life as a theater operator. He had a remarkably successful career as a low-budget feature producer, considering the pressures on the post-war movie business and the onslaught of television.
- Father of Robert L. Lippert Jr.
- In 1956 he was appointed by 20th Century-Fox to head its Regal Pictures division, which was formed to produce low-budget films using Fox's CinemaScope process but which would not carry the 20th-Century Fox name.
- I don't worry about what the critics say--I make pictures people want to see.
- I'm not in this for personal glory, I'm giving the public and the exhibitors the films they want for purely commercial reasons
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content