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Irving Thalberg Born Irving Grant Thalberg May 30, 1899 Brooklyn, New York, USA Died September 14, 1936 (aged 37) Santa Monica, California, USA Years active 1921-1936 Spouse(s) Norma Shearer (1927-1936) [show]Awards won Academy Awards Best Picture 1929 The Broadway Melody 1932 Grand Hotel 1935 Mutiny on the 7000 Hollywood Blvd Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an Academy Award-winning American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff, and make very profitable films. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Death 3 Legacy 4 Awards 5 Filmography 6 References 6.1 Specific 6.2 General 7 Biographies 8 External links // Biography Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, New York to German Jewish immigrant parents. He had a bad heart and was plagued with other ailments all his life. Upon completing high school, he was employed by Universal Pictures' New York office, where he worked as personal secretary to legendary studio founder Carl Laemmle, the boss of Universal Studios. Irving Thalberg was bright and persistent, and by age 21 was executive in charge of production at Universal City, the studio's California production site. He quickly established his tenacity as he battled with Erich von Stroheim over the length of Foolish Wives (1922), and controlled every aspect of the production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). The Big Parade (1925), directed by King Vidor, was Thalberg's first major triumph at MGM. Until 1932, when he suffered a major heart attack, he supervised every important MGM studio production, and combined careful pre-production groundwork with prerelease sneak previews which measured audience response. At the time he joined Metro Pictures, Thalberg was dating actress Norma Shearer, whom he married in 1927. She considered early retirement after having her second child with Thalberg, but he was convinced he could continue to find good roles for her and encouraged her to continue acting. She went on to be MGM's biggest star of the 1930s. Their two children were Irving Jr. (1930 – 1988) and Katherine (1935 – 2006). Upon Thalberg's illness, Louis B. Mayer, who had come to resent Thalberg's power and success, replaced him with David O. Selznick and Walter Wanger. When he returned to work in 1933, it was as one of the studio's unit producers. Nonetheless, he helped develop some of MGM's most prestigious ventures, including Grand Hotel (1932), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), China Seas (1935), A Night at the Opera (1935) with the Marx Brothers, San Francisco (1936), and Romeo and Juliet (1936). Death Thalberg | ||||
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