Date of Birth
14 September 1899,
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Date of Death
5 October 1986, Rancho Mirage, California, USA
Birth Name
Harold Brent Wallis
Mini Biography
Legendary producer Hal B. Wallis was born in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles when he was in his early 20s. He got a job managing a theater owned by Warner Bros., and his success at the job caught the eye of studio head Jack L. Warner, who gave him a job in the studio's publicity department. Within a few months Wallis had worked his way up to head of the department. He was named studio manager in 1928 and production manager shortly thereafter, but was pushed aside by another legendary producer, future 20th Century-Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1933 Zanuck left Warner and Wallis moved back to his old position. He oversaw the production of many of Warners' most famous films, including Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Captain Blood (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Casablanca (1942). In 1944 Wallis left Warner and formed his own production company, and achieved even more success, being responsible for such films as The Rose Tattoo (1955), Becket (1964), and a string of Elvis Presley movies, most of which were economically produced and all of which made a fortune. Wallis' last picture was the John Wayne western Rooster Cogburn (1975).
Spouse
| Martha Hyer |
(1966 - 5 October 1986) (his death) |
| Louise Fazenda |
(? - 17 April 1962) (her death) 1 child |
Trivia
Brother-in-law of screenwriter Wally Kline.
The Hal B. Wallis Building contains the Heart Research Facility at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. It's named after the famous producer whose last home was in this city.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 866-868. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Personal Quotes
"In the old days we had the time and money to give prospective stars a slow build up. Today, an actor makes it fast or he doesn't make it at all."
[As head of Warner production] "Every time Paul Muni parts his beard and looks down a microscope, this company loses two million dollars."
[on Errol Flynn] He wasn't an admirable character, but he was a magnificent male animal and his sex appeal was obvious. It seemed not to matter whether he could act. He leapt from the screen into the projection room with the impact of a bullet.
Chaplin visits producer Hal B. ...
Produced by Hal B Wallis \x26amp; Jack L ...
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