Spyros Skouras
Encyclopedia
Spyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox
from 1942 to 1962. He resigned June 27, 1962, effective September 30.
An immigrant to America from Greece
, his accent was so pronounced that Bob Hope
would joke "Spyros has been here twenty years but he still sounds as if he's coming next week." Skouras oversaw the production of such epics as Cleopatra
(1963) with Elizabeth Taylor
, as well as the creation of Century City
.
, Skouras along with his brothers Charles Skouras
and George Skouras
emigrated to America in 1910. They finally settled in St. Louis, Missouri
, at that time the fourth largest city in America. The sons of a poor sheep herder later rose even higher to become top movie executives in some of Hollywood's biggest studios.
Living frugally on wages as busboys and bartenders in downtown hotels, the brothers pooled their savings of US$3,500 in 1914. In partnership with two other Greeks
, the Skourases constructed a modest nickelodeon at 1420 Market Street on the site of today's Kiel Opera House. This initial property, named the Olympia, was quickly followed by the acquisition of other theaters.
The brothers incorporated in 1924 with $400,000 capital stock. By then more than thirty local theaters belonged to the Skouras Brothers
Co. of St. Louis. The biggest moment for the Skouras empire came when their dream of building a world-class movie palace in downtown St. Louis was grandly realized in 1926 when the $5.5 million Ambassador Theatre
Building opened. (This theater re-opened in 1939 as the New Fox Theatre
.) In 1929, following the depression, the triumvirate sold out their interest to Warner Brothers and moved east to claim top executive places in the industry.
From 1929 to 1931, Spyros worked as a general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. During these hard years, with the depression running amok, Spyros managed to eliminate losses and eventually quadrupled the profits of the chain. Despite this success, his wish to be his own boss again, made him voluntarily leave the company. After that, and for a short while, he works as a manager in Paramount.
In 1932, the Skouras Brothers (Charles, Spyros and George) took over the management of the Fox West Coast Theater chain, with over 500 theaters. Once again, the threat of bankruptcy threatened one of Hollywood's early film studios. The three brothers did what they could to stave of a disaster.
from 1942 to 1962. Spyros was also a major stockholder of 20th Century Fox. In the 1950s he, together with his brothers, controlled 20th Century Fox, National Theaters, Fox West Coast Theaters, United Artists Theaters
, Skouras Theaters, Magna Corp, and Todd AO. Skouras assets in 1952 amounted to a dazzling $108,000,000, a point of power never before attained by any other theater or movie mogul, including the Schencks, Warners, Schuberts, or his countryman Alexander Pantages
.
Skouras oversaw the production of such classics as Don't Bother to Knock
, The Seven Year Itch
, The Hustler
, The King and I
, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Robe
. One of his biggest achievements is that he managed to sign a young model named Norma Jean Baker to 20th Century Fox, who after changing her name to Marilyn Monroe
, would rise to fame and become the most famous Hollywood sex symbol of the 20th Century. Skouras developed a special relationship with Marilyn, who often called him "Papa Skouras".
During Skouras' tenure - which was the longest in the company's history - he worked to rescue the faltering movie industry from the lure of television
. 20th Century Fox's famous advertising slogan, Movies are Better than Ever, gained credibility in 1953 when Spyros introduced CinemaScope
in the studio's groundbreaking feature film The Robe
. With his introduction of CinemaScope, Skouras did much to save the entire movie industry from its newly invented competitor - television.
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcs5.htmhttp://www.in70mm.com/newsletter/2002/67/panavision/panavision_beginning.htm This new technology soon became the standard of the whole industry.
(1963), where cost overruns set in motion a shareholder revolt that dethroned him. Darryl F. Zanuck
was elected president of the company while Spyros worked in the role of chairman of the company for a number of years.
In parallel with his work in the film industry Skouras had, like many of his countrymen, invested in the shipping industry. Thus in the 1960s, his Prudential Lines owned seven ships, two tankers and five cargo ships, that cruised the world seas. In 1969, Prudential Lines bought out the Grace Lines. In the last years of his life, he disengaged from the movie world that he had served for so long, and spent more time on his various maritime projects, which were ultimately run by his son Spyros Skouras Jr.
Skouras died from a heart attack
at the age of 78.
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
from 1942 to 1962. He resigned June 27, 1962, effective September 30.
An immigrant to America from Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, his accent was so pronounced that Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
would joke "Spyros has been here twenty years but he still sounds as if he's coming next week." Skouras oversaw the production of such epics as Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
(1963) with Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, as well as the creation of Century City
Century City, Los Angeles, California
Century City is a 176-acre commercial and residential district on the Westside of the city of Los Angeles. It is bounded by Westwood on the west, Rancho Park on the southwest, Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the southeast, and the city of Beverly Hills on the northeast...
.
The early years
Born in Skourohorion, GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Skouras along with his brothers Charles Skouras
Charles Skouras
Charles P. Skouras in Skourohorion, Greece, was an American movie executive and president of Fox Coast West. He and his two brothers, George Skouras and Spyros Skouras, came from Greece as poor sons of a sheep herder who rose to become top movie executives.-Biography:The Skouras brothers arrived...
and George Skouras
George Skouras
George P. Skouras, George Skowras, in Skourohorion, Greece, was an American movie executive and president of United Artists Theatres. He was one of ten children, three of which came over from Greece in 1910 as poor sons of a sheep herder and rose to become top movie executives...
emigrated to America in 1910. They finally settled in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, at that time the fourth largest city in America. The sons of a poor sheep herder later rose even higher to become top movie executives in some of Hollywood's biggest studios.
Living frugally on wages as busboys and bartenders in downtown hotels, the brothers pooled their savings of US$3,500 in 1914. In partnership with two other Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, the Skourases constructed a modest nickelodeon at 1420 Market Street on the site of today's Kiel Opera House. This initial property, named the Olympia, was quickly followed by the acquisition of other theaters.
The brothers incorporated in 1924 with $400,000 capital stock. By then more than thirty local theaters belonged to the Skouras Brothers
Skouras Brothers
The Skouras Brothers Enterprises Inc. was an American movie theater chain from the early days of film-making based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned and operated by three brothers: Charles, Spyros and George...
Co. of St. Louis. The biggest moment for the Skouras empire came when their dream of building a world-class movie palace in downtown St. Louis was grandly realized in 1926 when the $5.5 million Ambassador Theatre
Ambassador Theatre (St. Louis)
The Ambassador Theatre was a lavish movie palace-type theater in St. Louis, Missouri, designed by the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp. A landmark of rococo 1920s theater design, it opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1997.-Origins:...
Building opened. (This theater re-opened in 1939 as the New Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre (St. Louis)
The Fox Theatre, a former movie palace, is a performing arts center located at 527 N. Grand Blvd. in St. Louis, Missouri. Also known as "The Fabulous Fox", it is situated in the arts district of the Grand Center area in Midtown St. Louis, one block north of Saint Louis University...
.) In 1929, following the depression, the triumvirate sold out their interest to Warner Brothers and moved east to claim top executive places in the industry.
From 1929 to 1931, Spyros worked as a general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. During these hard years, with the depression running amok, Spyros managed to eliminate losses and eventually quadrupled the profits of the chain. Despite this success, his wish to be his own boss again, made him voluntarily leave the company. After that, and for a short while, he works as a manager in Paramount.
In 1932, the Skouras Brothers (Charles, Spyros and George) took over the management of the Fox West Coast Theater chain, with over 500 theaters. Once again, the threat of bankruptcy threatened one of Hollywood's early film studios. The three brothers did what they could to stave of a disaster.
Rise to fame
In May 1935, Spyros helped merge Fox with Twentieth Century Pictures. He later served as president of the merged company 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
from 1942 to 1962. Spyros was also a major stockholder of 20th Century Fox. In the 1950s he, together with his brothers, controlled 20th Century Fox, National Theaters, Fox West Coast Theaters, United Artists Theaters
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, Skouras Theaters, Magna Corp, and Todd AO. Skouras assets in 1952 amounted to a dazzling $108,000,000, a point of power never before attained by any other theater or movie mogul, including the Schencks, Warners, Schuberts, or his countryman Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages
Alexander Pantages was an American vaudeville and early motion picture producer and impresario who created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the western United States and Canada.-Early life:...
.
Skouras oversaw the production of such classics as Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Daniel Taradash. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying...
, The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
, The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
, The King and I
The King and I (1956 film)
The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I, based in turn on the book Anna and the King...
, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
. One of his biggest achievements is that he managed to sign a young model named Norma Jean Baker to 20th Century Fox, who after changing her name to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, would rise to fame and become the most famous Hollywood sex symbol of the 20th Century. Skouras developed a special relationship with Marilyn, who often called him "Papa Skouras".
During Skouras' tenure - which was the longest in the company's history - he worked to rescue the faltering movie industry from the lure of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. 20th Century Fox's famous advertising slogan, Movies are Better than Ever, gained credibility in 1953 when Spyros introduced CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
in the studio's groundbreaking feature film The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
. With his introduction of CinemaScope, Skouras did much to save the entire movie industry from its newly invented competitor - television.
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcs5.htmhttp://www.in70mm.com/newsletter/2002/67/panavision/panavision_beginning.htm This new technology soon became the standard of the whole industry.
Closing Curtain
Skouras was brought low by the excesses on such films as CleopatraCleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
(1963), where cost overruns set in motion a shareholder revolt that dethroned him. Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
was elected president of the company while Spyros worked in the role of chairman of the company for a number of years.
In parallel with his work in the film industry Skouras had, like many of his countrymen, invested in the shipping industry. Thus in the 1960s, his Prudential Lines owned seven ships, two tankers and five cargo ships, that cruised the world seas. In 1969, Prudential Lines bought out the Grace Lines. In the last years of his life, he disengaged from the movie world that he had served for so long, and spent more time on his various maritime projects, which were ultimately run by his son Spyros Skouras Jr.
Skouras died from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 78.