“Forgotten Hollywood”- Movie Mogul Joins Passing Parade…
Manny P. here…
“`Legendary movie producer David Picker helped bring Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels to cinema. He guided an X-rated film to Oscars glory and introduced The Beatles to Hollywood with Hard Day’s Night and Help!. He became a studio chief, with stops at United Artists, Columbia, and Paramount in a prestigious run of box-office successes.
DAVID PICKER
“`David’s favorite film as a kid was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After serving in the United States Army, he joined United Artists in 1956, and he quickly rose through the ranks, first becoming an assistant, and then, the head of production. His dad ran a chain of theaters, and his uncle was the vice president for United Artists, as well as the finance chairperson for Edmund S. Muskie during his 1972 presidential campaign.
“`David was credited with expanding the careers of legends, including Ingmar Bergman, Bob Fosse, Billy Wilder, and Paddy Chayefsky. He helped launch Woody Allen and Steve Martin, as well. His production choices included Tom Jones and Midnight Cowboy, which both won a Best Picture statuette. Other movies include Yellow Submarine, Women In Love, Lenny, Saturday Night Fever, Last Tango in Paris, Ordinary People (another Best Picture nod), Grease, Being There, and The Jerk.
“`Not all of his decisions captured gold. He had hoped to find a James Bond story for Alfred Hitchcock to produce. This never happened. He also passed on Robert Altman’s Nashville, and instead, produced the terrible Ishtar.
“`David Picker was eighty-seven.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2019 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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