Ross Hunter
Encyclopedia
Ross Hunter was a Hollywood film producer.

Biography

Hunter was born in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 as Martin Fuss. After serving in Army intelligence during World War II, he signed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 and acted in a number of B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 musicals. Success followed when he became a film producer attaining a staff producer post at Universal-International
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 in 1953 on the strength of his previous credits as a theatrical producer and director. A gay man, Hunter was known for producing what were considered 'light' films starring actresses including Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

, Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...

 (the Tammy films) and (later) Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

. He was also known for producing Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...

 melodramas such as Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...

with Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...

 and several with Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

.

In 1970 he had a major box office hit with Airport. After the 1973 version of Lost Horizon flopped, he worked for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 on a string of television movies.

He died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 in 1996.

Quote

  • "The way life looks in my pictures is how I want life to be. I don't want to hold a mirror up to life as it is".

Selected filmography

  • Naked Alibi
    Naked Alibi
    Naked Alibi is a 1954 black-and-white film starring Sterling Hayden. Portions of the film, considered film noir, were shot in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.-Plot:...

    (1954) (producer)
  • Magnificent Obsession
    Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)
    Magnificent Obsession is a Universal International Pictures romantic feature film directed by Douglas Sirk; starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. The screenplay was written by Robert Blees and Wells Root, after the book Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas. The film was produced by Ross Hunter...

    (1954) (producer)
  • Taza, Son of Cochise
    Taza, Son of Cochise
    Taza, Son of Cochise is a 1954 western film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Rush. The film was shot in 3D, but only released in 2D at the time.-Plot synopsis:...

    (1954) (producer)
  • All That Heaven Allows
    All That Heaven Allows
    All That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...

    (1955) (producer)
  • Captain Lightfoot
    Captain Lightfoot
    Captain Lightfoot is a 1955 film starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Rush.It is a historical drama set in Ireland and was filmed at Clogherhead, County Louth, Ireland.-Cast:* Rock Hudson as Michael Martin* Barbara Rush as Aga Doherty...

    (1955) (producer)
  • Battle Hymn
    Battle Hymn (film)
    Battle Hymn is a Universal Studios feature film starring Rock Hudson as Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real-life United States Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War. Hess's autobiography of the same name was published concurrently with the release of the film. He donated his profits from the film and...

    (1957) (producer)
  • My Man Godfrey
    My Man Godfrey (1957 film)
    My Man Godfrey is a 1957 comedy film starring June Allyson and David Niven. It is a remake of Gregory La Cava's 1936 screwball comedy of the same name....

    (1957) (producer)
  • Tammy and the Bachelor
    Tammy and the Bachelor
    Tammy and the Bachelor is a 1957 romantic comedy film and is the first of the four Tammy films. It stars Debbie Reynolds as Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree, Walter Brennan as Grandpa Dinwitty and Leslie Nielsen as Peter Brent...

    (1957) (producer)
  • This Happy Feeling
    This Happy Feeling
    This Happy Feeling is a 1958 film by Blake Edwards adapted from the F. Hugh Herbert play For Love or Money. Edwards regretted Universal's eleventh hour decision of a name change, but the studio was hoping to trade off another pop hit by Debbie Reynolds as they had with Tammy and the Bachelor....

    (1958) (producer)
  • The Restless Years
    The Restless Years
    The Restless Years is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and young adults. It was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for Network Ten. It debuted December 1977 and ran until late 1981. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings...

    (1958) (producer)
  • Imitation of Life
    Imitation of Life (1959 film)
    Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...

    (1959) (producer)
  • Pillow Talk (1959) (producer)
  • Midnight Lace
    Midnight Lace
    Midnight Lace is a 1960 American mystery-thriller film starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison, directed by David Miller. The screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is based on the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green....

    (1960) (producer)
  • Portrait in Black
    Portrait in Black
    Portrait in Black is a thriller released by Universal International. Produced by Ross Hunter, who also produced Airport and other films for Universal, the film starred Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn...

    (1960) (producer)
  • Back Street
    Back Street (1961 film)
    Back Street is a 1961 film made by Universal Pictures, directed by David Miller, and produced by Ross Hunter. The screenplay was written by William Ludwig and Eleanore Griffin based on the novel by Fannie Hurst. The music score is by Frank Skinner...

    (1961) (producer)
  • Tammy Tell Me True (1961)
  • Flower Drum Song
    Flower Drum Song (film)
    Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song, written by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The film and stage play were based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author C. Y...

    (1961) (producer)
  • If a Man Answers
    If a Man Answers
    If a Man Answers is a comedy film directed by Henry Levin and starring Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. It was produced by Ross Hunter Productions, Inc, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Morris from a novel by Winifred Wolfe.-Plot summary:Chantal Stacy is a...

    (1962) (producer)
  • Tammy and the Doctor (1963)(producer)
  • The Thrill of It All
    The Thrill of It All
    The Thrill of It All is a romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison starring Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis, and ZaSu Pitts. The screenplay was written by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner...

    (1963) (producer)
  • The Chalk Garden
    The Chalk Garden (film)
    The Chalk Garden is a 1964 British-American film directed by Ronald Neame. It stars Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills and is an adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name...

    (1964) (producer)
  • I'd Rather Be Rich
    I'd Rather Be Rich
    I'd Rather Be Rich is a 1964 romantic comedy film with musical aspects directed by Jack Smight, produced by Ross Hunter and starring Sandra Dee. The film focuses on dying man who wishes to meet his granddaughter's fiancé, but he is unavailable, so the woman persuades another man to substitute for...

    (1964)(producer)
  • The Art of Love
    The Art of Love
    The Art of Love is a 1965 comedy film starring James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommer, and Angie Dickinson. The film involves an American artist in Paris who fakes his own death in order to increase the worth of his paintings...

    (1965)(producer)
  • Madame X
    Madame X (1966 film)
    Madame X is a 1966 drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner.-Plot:A lower class woman, Holly Parker , marries into the rich Anderson family. Her husband's mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities...

    (1966) (producer)
  • Thoroughly Modern Millie
    Thoroughly Modern Millie
    Thoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss.The...

    (1967) (producer)
  • Rosie! (producer)
  • Airport (1970) (producer)
  • Lost Horizon
    Lost Horizon (1973 film)
    Lost Horizon is a 1973 musical film directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, Michael York, Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey, James Shigeta and Charles Boyer....

    (1973) (producer)

External links

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