Hal B. Wallis

Hal B. Wallis
Born Aaron Blum Wolowicz
(1898-10-19)October 19, 1898
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died October 5, 1986(1986-10-05) (aged 87)
Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Occupation Film producer
Years active 1931–1983
Spouse(s) Louise Fazenda (m. 1927–1962; her death; 1 child)
Martha Hyer (m. 1966–1986; his death)

Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best remembered for producing Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and True Grit (1969), along with many other major films for Warner Bros. featuring such film stars as Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn.

Later on, for a long period, he was connected with Paramount Pictures and oversaw films featuring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, and John Wayne.

Life and career

Aaron Blum Wolowicz was born October 19, 1898[1] in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eva (née Blum) and Jacob Wolowicz, who were Ashkenazi Jews from the Suwałki region of Poland who changed their surname to Wallis.[2][3][4]

His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros. in 1923. Within a few years, Wallis became involved in the production end of the business and would eventually become head of production at Warner. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, he was involved with the production of more than 400 feature-length movies.

Among the more significant movies he produced were Casablanca, Dark Victory, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Maltese Falcon, Sergeant York, and Now, Voyager.

During the 16th Academy Awards, when the award for Best Picture was announced for Casablanca, Wallis got up to accept, but studio head Jack L. Warner rushed up to the stage "with a broad, flashing smile and a look of great self-satisfaction," Wallis later recalled. "I couldn't believe it was happening. Casablanca had been my creation; Jack had absolutely nothing to do with it. As the audience gasped, I tried to get out of the row of seats and into the aisle, but the entire Warner family sat blocking me. I had no alternative but to sit down again, humiliated and furious ... Almost forty years later, I still haven't recovered from the shock."[5] This incident would lead Wallis to leave Warner Bros. in April.

Wallis started to work as an independent producer, enjoying considerable success both commercially and critically. The first screenwriters he hired for his new enterprise were Ayn Rand and Lillian Hellman.[6] Among his financial hits were the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies, and several of Elvis Presley's movies.

He produced True Grit, for which John Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor of 1969, and its sequel.

After moving to Universal Pictures, he produced Mary, Queen of Scots (starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson) and Anne of the Thousand Days (starring Richard Burton and Canadian-born actress Geneviève Bujold). He received 16 Academy Award producer nominations for Best Picture, winning for Casablanca in 1943.

For his consistently high quality of motion picture production, he was twice honored with the Academy Awards' Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was also nominated for seven Golden Globe awards, twice winning awards for Best Picture. In 1975, he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

In 1980, he published his autobiography, Starmaker, co-written with Charles Higham.

In the 1930s, Wallis invested in residential real estate development in Sherman Oaks, CA. He named Halbrent Avenue after himself, using his nickname "Hal" and his middle name "Brent". Most of its original homes still stand, and it is very close to Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards and the Sherman Oaks Galleria used extensively in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Marriages

Wallis was married twice, to actress Louise Fazenda from 1927 until her death in 1962, and to actress Martha Hyer from 1966 until his death in 1986. he had one son with Fazenda, Brent Wallis [7] .[8]

Death

Wallis died in 1986 of complications of diabetes in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 88. News of his passing was not released until after his private memorial service was completed. U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan (who had worked for Wallis in On Santa Fe Trail and This Is the Army) sent condolences to the family.[9] Wallis is interred in a crypt at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Filmography

Academy Awards

Year Award Film Winner
1931–32 Outstanding Production Five Star Final Irving Thalberg – Grand Hotel
1932–33 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang Winfield Sheehan – Cavalcade
1934 Flirtation Walk Harry Cohn – It Happened One Night
1935 Captain Blood Irving Thalberg and Albert Lewin – Mutiny on the Bounty
1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood Frank Capra – You Can't Take It With You
Four Daughters
Jezebel
1940 All This, and Heaven Too David O. Selznick – Rebecca
The Letter
1941 Outstanding Motion Picture The Maltese Falcon Darryl F. Zanuck – How Green Was My Valley
One Foot in Heaven
Sergeant York
1942 Kings Row Sidney Franklin – Mrs. Miniver
Yankee Doodle Dandy
1943 Casablanca Won
Watch on the Rhine Hal B. Wallis – Casablanca
1955 Best Motion Picture The Rose Tattoo Harold Hecht – Marty
1964 Best Picture Becket Jack L. Warner – My Fair Lady
1969 Anne of the Thousand Days Jerome Hellman – Midnight Cowboy

1938 and 1943 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Awards

References

  1. ↑ Cook County Birth Certificates. Wallis's birthdate has commonly been given as September 14, 1898, but the official birth record shows October 19, 1898.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ http://www.filmreference.com/film/46/Hal-Wallis.html
  4. ↑ U.S. World War I Draft Registration card for Harold Blum Wallis; 1900 Census entry for "Aaron Wollowitch" and 1910 Census entry for "Harold Wolowitz"
  5. ↑ Ronald Haver. "Casablanca: The Unexpected Classic". The Criterion Collection Online Cinematheque. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  6. ↑ Berliner, Michael, ed., Letters of Ayn Rand, New York: Dutton, 1995, p. 148.
  7. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/18/arts/a-california-museum-sues-over-hal-wallis-collection.html
  8. ↑ New York Times: "HAL B. WALLIS, FILM PRODUCER, IS DEAD" by Tim page October 8, 1986
  9. ↑ "Producer Hall Wallis succumbs", Minden Press-Herald, Minden, Louisiana, October 8, 1986, p. 3B
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