Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
| Arthur Hornblow, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 15, 1893 New York City |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. New York City |
| Spouse(s) | Juliette Crosby (m.1924) Myrna Loy (1936–1942) Leonora Schinasi (1945–1976) |
Arthur Hornblow, Jr. (March 15, 1893 – July 17, 1976) was an American film producer.
Contents
Biography
Hornblow was the son of Arthur Hornblow, Sr. (1865–1942), a writer and editor who produced the Theatre magazine in New York City. (He allowed a version of his last name be used by C. S. Forester for the fictional sea captain Horatio Hornblower after meeting writer Forester at a New York cocktail party.)
Hornblow graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, New York City, in 1911, before studying at Dartmouth College and New York Law School,[1] and was a member of the fraternity Theta Delta Chi. He served in counter-intelligence during World War I,[1] and then tried his hand at playwriting. He was then hired as a production supervisor by Sam Goldwyn at Paramount in 1927.[1]
He married the actress Myrna Loy in 1936.[2] On their divorce in 1942 they threw a lavish party at the Mocambo club.
Initially, he specialized in the popular screwball comedies, eventually giving Billy Wilder his first directing job, and producing several films starring Bob Hope.[1] These included The Cat and the Canary (1939), The Ghost Breakers (1940) and Nothing But the Truth (1941).[3] In 1942 he moved to MGM where he produced several film noir. In the 1950s, now an independent producer rather that a studio employee, he worked on musicals and other films including Oklahoma, Ruggles of Red Gap and Gaslight.
After retiring from the film business in 1962 he devoted his time to writing children's books with his third wife Leonora Schinasi[2] as Leonora Hornblow (1920–2005).
He gave aspiring actress Marie Windsor her first screen test, and Constance Ockelman her new name, Veronica Lake.
Oscar nominations
As a producer he was nominated for an Academy Award 'Best Picture' Oscar four times, but failed to win.
- Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), comedy-western with Charles Laughton.
- Hold Back the Dawn (1941), romantic-comedy with Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland.
- Gaslight (1944), thriller with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten.
- Witness for the Prosecution (1957), courtroom drama with Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, and Elsa Lanchester.
Selected filmography
- Four Hours to Kill! (1935)
- The Princess Comes Across (1936)
- Easy Living (1937)
- High, Wide, and Handsome (1937)
- Midnight (1939)
- The Cat and the Canary (1939)
- The Ghost Breakers (1940)
- Arise, My Love (1940)
- The Major and the Minor (1942)
- Gaslight (1944)[3]
- The Hucksters (1947)[3]
- The Asphalt Jungle (1950)[3]
- Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
- Oklahoma! (1955)[3]
- The War Lover (1962)
Books by Arthur and Leonora Hornblow
- Animals Do the Strangest Things, illus. Michael K. Frith (Random House, 1964), 62 pp., LCCN 64-19132
The Hornblows, Frith, and Random House collaborated to produce numerous sequels, Birds Do the Strangest Things (1965), and so on.
References
External links
- Arthur Hornblow Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
- Allmovie biography
- Arthur Hornblow Jr profile at TCMDB
- Arthur Hornblow, Jr. at Library of Congress Authorities, with 13 catalog records (previous page of browse report, under 'Hornblow, Arthur, 1893–1976')
- Hornblow, Arthur, 1865–1942 at LC Authorities, with 28 records; Arthur senior at WorldCat
- Leonora Hornblow at LC Authorities, with 15 records; Leonora at WorldCat
