Pandro S. Berman
Encyclopedia
Pandro Samuel Berman was an American
film producer.
during Hollywood's formative years. The younger Berman, Pandro Samuel, was an assistant director
during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair
and Ralph Ince
. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures
, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron
walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939. He managed to survive David O. Selznick
's general firing of most of the staff.
The Fred Astaire
/Ginger Rogers
musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn
rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame
and Gunga Din
(both 1939) were completed. Berman was willing to give creative people plenty of elbow room, but there were limits; having been coaxed by Katharine Hepburn
and director
George Cukor
to push through production of the 1936 film Sylvia Scarlett
, Berman reportedly reacted to the poor audience response to that film (the worst in RKO's history ) by telling Hepburn and Cukor that he never wanted to see their faces again!
Upset when an RKO power-play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl
(1941), National Velvet
(1944), The Bribe
(1949), Father of the Bride
(1950), Blackboard Jungle
(1955) and BUtterfield 8
(1960).
He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move
(1970).
Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91.
Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture
: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film producer.
Biography
His father, Henry Berman, was general manager of Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
during Hollywood's formative years. The younger Berman, Pandro Samuel, was an assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair
Malcolm St. Clair (filmmaker)
Malcolm St. Clair was a Hollywood film director, writer, producer and actor, he was sometimes credited as Mal St Clair. A disciple of Mack Sennett, St. Clair was an actor in many films primarily comedies. At 6'7" he can be seen in such Sennett films as Yankee Doodle in Berlin, towering over the...
and Ralph Ince
Ralph Ince
Ralph Ince , was an American film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 171 films between 1910 and 1937. He also appeared in 110 films between 1907 and 1937....
. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron
William LeBaron
William LeBaron was an American film producer. His credits included Cimarron, the film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 4th Academy Awards ceremony for 1930/1931....
walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939. He managed to survive David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
's general firing of most of the staff.
The Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
/Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
and Gunga Din
Gunga Din (film)
Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film directed by George Stevens, loosely based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, combined with elements of his novel Soldiers Three...
(both 1939) were completed. Berman was willing to give creative people plenty of elbow room, but there were limits; having been coaxed by Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
to push through production of the 1936 film Sylvia Scarlett
Sylvia Scarlett
Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s...
, Berman reportedly reacted to the poor audience response to that film (the worst in RKO's history ) by telling Hepburn and Cukor that he never wanted to see their faces again!
Upset when an RKO power-play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl
Ziegfeld Girl (film)
Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American film starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner, and co-starring Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. Released by MGM, it was directed by Robert Z...
(1941), National Velvet
National Velvet (film)
National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor....
(1944), The Bribe
The Bribe
The Bribe is an American crime film noir directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Marguerite Roberts, based on a story written by Frederick Nebel...
(1949), Father of the Bride
Father of the Bride (1950 film)
Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...
(1950), Blackboard Jungle
Blackboard Jungle
Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter.-Plot:...
(1955) and BUtterfield 8
BUtterfield 8
BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 Metrocolor drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance...
(1960).
He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move
Move (film)
Move is a 1970 comedy film starring Elliott Gould, Paula Prentiss and Geneviève Waïte, and directed by Stuart Rosenberg. The screenplay was written by Joel Lieber and Stanley Hart, adapted from a novel by Lieber.- Synopsis :...
(1970).
Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91.
Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952).
Selected filmography
- One Man's JourneyOne Man's JourneyOne Man's Journey was a 2005 documentary series on PBS, featuring the canoe travels of naturalist and filmmaker Robert Perkins.-References:-External links:...
(1933) - The Little MinisterThe Little MinisterThe Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
(1934) - The Gay DivorceeThe Gay DivorceeThe Gay Divorcee is a 1934 American film based on the musical play Gay Divorce written by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth S. Webb, Samuel Hoffenstein, with screenplay by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman, from an unproduced play by J. Hartley Manners...
(1934) - Of Human Bondage (1934)
- Alice AdamsAlice Adams (film)Alice Adams, also known as Booth Tarkington's Alice Adams, is a 1935 romantic film made by RKO. It was directed by George Stevens and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner adapted by Jane Murfin from the novel, Alice Adams, by Booth Tarkington...
(1935) - Top HatTop HatTop Hat is a 1935 screwball comedy musical film in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick . He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont to win her affection...
(1935) - Swing TimeSwing TimeSwing Time is a 1936 RKO musical comedy film set mainly in New York City and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields...
(1936) - Mary of ScotlandMary of Scotland (film)Mary of Scotland is a 1936 RKO film starring Katharine Hepburn as the 16th century ruler, Mary, Queen of Scots. Directed by John Ford, it is an adaptation of the 1933 Maxwell Anderson play by Dudley Nichols. The play starred Helen Hayes as Mary...
(1936) - Shall We Dance? (1937; uncredited)
- Stage DoorStage DoorStage Door is a RKO film, adapted from the play by the same name, that tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The film stars Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier,...
(1937) - The Hunchback of Notre DameThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
(1939; Charles LaughtonCharles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
) - Ziegfeld GirlZiegfeld Girl (film)Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American film starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner, and co-starring Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. Released by MGM, it was directed by Robert Z...
(1941) - Rio RitaRio Rita (1942 film)Rio Rita is a 1942 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello. It was based upon the 1927 Flo Ziegfeld Broadway musical, which was previously made into a 1929 film also titled Rio Rita that starred the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey.-Plot:...
(1942) - Dragon Seed (1944)
- National VelvetNational Velvet (film)National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor....
(1944) - Song of RussiaSong of RussiaSong of Russia is a 1944 American war film made and distributed by MGM Studios. The picture was credited as being directed by Gregory Ratoff, though Ratoff collapsed near the end of the five-month production, and was replaced by László Benedek, who completed principal photography; the credited...
(1944; uncredited) - The Picture of Dorian GrayThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film)The Picture of Dorian Gray is an American horror-drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel of the same name. Released in March 1945 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is directed by Albert Lewin and stars George Sanders as Lord Henry Wotton and Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray...
(1945; Hurd HatfieldHurd HatfieldWilliam Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American actor.-Biography:The son of William Henry Hatfield , an attorney who served as deputy attorney general for New York, and his wife, the former Adele Steele, Hatfield was born in New York City, and was educated at Columbia University before travelling to...
) - If Winter ComesIf Winter ComesIf Winter Comes is a 1947 drama film released by MGM. The movie was directed by Victor Saville, based on the novel by A.S.M. Hutchinson. The film tells the story of an English textbook writer who takes in a pregnant girl...
(1947) - The Three MusketeersThe Three Musketeers (1948 film)The Three Musketeers is a Technicolor adventure film adaptation of the classic novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père which starred Gene Kelly and Lana Turner...
(1948) - The BribeThe BribeThe Bribe is an American crime film noir directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Marguerite Roberts, based on a story written by Frederick Nebel...
(1949) - Madame BovaryMadame Bovary (1949 film)Madame Bovary is a 1949 film adaptation of the classic novel of the same name by Gustave Flaubert. It stars Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin , Gene Lockhart, Frank Allenby and Gladys Cooper....
(1949) - Father of the BrideFather of the Bride (1950 film)Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...
(1950) - IvanhoeIvanhoe (1952 film)Ivanhoe is a 1952 historical film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The cast featured Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie and Felix Aylmer...
(1952) - The Prisoner of ZendaThe Prisoner of Zenda (1952 film)The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1952 film version of the classic novel of the same name by Anthony Hope and a remake of the famous 1937 film version. This version was made by Loew's and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S...
(1952) - Knights of the Round TableKnights of the Round Table (film)Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 Technicolor Cinemascope historical film made by MGM. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in Cinemascope made by that studio...
(1953) - The Long, Long TrailerThe Long, Long TrailerThe Long, Long Trailer is a novel by Clinton Twiss from the 1950s, about a couple who buy a new travel trailer home and spend a year traveling across the United States....
(1954) - Blackboard JungleBlackboard JungleBlackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter.-Plot:...
(1955) - Bhowani JunctionBhowani Junction (film)Bhowani Junction is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1952 novel Bhowani Junction by John Masters made by MGM. The film was directed by George Cukor and produced by Pandro S...
(1956) - Tea and SympathyTea and SympathyTea and Sympathy is a 1953 stage play in three acts by Robert Anderson.-Broadway premiere:It received its premiere on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 30, 1953 in a production by The Playwrights' Company, directed by Elia Kazan and designed by Jo Mielziner. The play starred...
(1956) - Jailhouse Rock (1957)
- The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
- The Reluctant DebutanteThe Reluctant DebutanteThe Reluctant Debutante is a 1958 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and William Douglas-Home based on Douglas-Home's play of the same name...
(1958) - BUtterfield 8BUtterfield 8BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 Metrocolor drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance...
(1960) - Sweet Bird of YouthSweet Bird of YouthSweet Bird of Youth is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town as the accompaniment of a faded movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis , whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies...
(1962) - A Patch of BlueA Patch of BlueA Patch of Blue is a 1965 American drama film directed by Guy Green about the relationship between a black man, Gordon , and a blind white female teenager, Selina , and the problems that plague their relationship when they fall in love in a racially divided America...
(1965)