Of all the movie studios that dotted the landscape of the Los Angeles area during the golden age of motion pictures (a time period lasting from the 1920s through 1950s), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was by far the most illustrious. Back then, movie stars were not independent contractors; rather, they signed standard, seven-year contracts with the movie studios that produced the majority of American films. Of all the movie studios, MGM was the biggest and, some say, the best.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose trademark was Leo the Roaring Lion, boasted that its roster of contract players included "More Stars Than There Are in the Heavens." During the 1920s, such screen legends as Greta Garbo (1905–1990), John Barrymore (1882–1942), John Gilbert (1899–1936), Joan Crawford (1905–1977), and Lillian Gish (1893–1993; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) signed with the studio. The 1930s brought to the forefront Clark Gable (1901–1960; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in...