(born Sept. 5, 1902, Wahoo, Neb., U.S.—died Dec. 22, 1979, Palm Springs, Calif.) U.S. film producer and executive. He worked as a steelworker, garment factory foreman, and a professional boxer while pursuing his career as a writer, and in 1924 he was hired as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers.
After writing scripts for more than 35 movies, he was made a producer. He promoted the conversion to sound by producing The Jazz Singer (1927). In 1933 he cofounded Twentieth Century Pictures, which soon merged with the Fox Film Corp. As the controlling executive of Twentieth Century-Fox, he produced films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and Viva Zapata! (1952). He resigned in 1956, but he returned as president in 1962 to effect the company's financial recovery with hits such as The Longest Day (1962), The Sound of Music (1965), and Patton (1970). He retired as chairman in 1971.
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