Winfield Sheehan
Encyclopedia
Winfield Sheehan was a film company executive. He was responsible for much of Fox Film Corporation's output during the 1920s and 1930s. As studio head he won an 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...

 for the film Cavalcade and was nominated three more times.
A native of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

, Sheehan served in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 as a teen. After working as a cub reporter he became a police reporter for New York's Evening World in the early 1900s. In 1910, Sheehan became the fire commissioner's secretary and in 1911 performed similar duties for the police commissioner. In the latter capacity, he helped the newly established studio of William Fox
William Fox
William Fox may refer to:* William Fox , Irish international footballer active in the 1880s.* William Fox , Paymaster of the Forces of England* William Johnson Fox , British politician* William F...

, stay afloat in the face of increasing pressure to fold from the Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...

, which routinely absorbed, intimidated, and ultimately destroyed most fledgling studios. The Fox case played a vital role in the destruction of the Motion Picture Patents Company's absolute control. Afterward, Sheehan became William Fox's personal secretary and two years later became the studio's general manager and vice president. He then served as Fox's chief of production until 1935 when the studio became part of 20th Century-Fox and was replaced by Darryl Zanuck. After that, Sheehan became an independent producer until his death in 1945.

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