Darryl F. Zanuck
Biography
Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902 – December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture during his tenure.
Zanuck was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, the son of Sarah Louise (née Torpin), who later married Charles Norton, and Frank Harvey Zanuck, who owned and operated a hotel in Wahoo. He had an older brother, Donald (1893–1903), who died in an accident when he was only 9 years old. Zanuck was of partial Swiss descent, and raised a Protestant. At age six, Zanuck and his mother moved to Los Angeles, where the better climate could improve her poor health. At age eight, he found his first movie job as an extra, but his disapproving father recalled him to Nebraska. In 1917, despite being 15, he deceived a recruiter, joined the United States Army, and served in France with the Nebraska National Guard during World War I.
Upon returning to the US, he worked in many part-time jobs while seeking work as a writer. He found work producing movie plots, and sold his first story in 1922 to William Russell and his second to Irving Thalberg. Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas, story editor at Universal Pictures' New York office, stated that one of the stories Zanuck sent out to movie studios around this time was completely plagiarized from another author's work.
Zanuck then worked for Mack Sennett and FBO (where he wrote the serials The Telephone Girl and The Leather Pushers) and took that experience to Warner Bros., where he wrote stories for Rin Tin Tin and under a number of pseudonyms wrote over 40 scripts from 1924 to 1929, including Red Hot Tires (1925) and Old San Francisco (1927). He moved into management in 1929, and became head of production in 1931.
In 1933, Zanuck left Warner Bros. over a salary dispute with studio head Jack L. Warner. A few days later, he partnered with Joseph Schenck to form 20th Century Pictures, Inc. with financial help from Joseph's brother Nicholas Schenck and Louis B. Mayer, president and studio head of Loew's, Inc and its subsidiary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, along with William Goetz and Raymond Griffith. 20th Century released its material through United Artists.
During that short time (1933–1935), 20th Century became the most successful independent movie studio of its time, breaking box-office records with 18 of its 19 films, all profitable, including Clive of India, Les Miserables, and The House of Rothschild. After a dispute with United Artists over stock ownership, Schenck and Zanuck negotiated and used their studio to bring the bankrupt Fox studios in 1935 to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.
Zanuck was Vice President of Production of this new studio and took a hands-on approach, closely involving himself in scripts, film editing, and producing. ... Source: Article "Darryl F. Zanuck" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting (14 movies)

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
1988

Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
1995

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
2001

Show-Business at War
1943

42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006

Rat Pack
2022

D-Day Revisited
1968

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940

Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
2005

Frank Capra's American Dream
1997

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009

Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
2000

Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement'
2001

The 42nd Street Special
1933
Directing (1 movie)
| Title | Year | Job | 
|---|---|---|
| Fighting Blood | 1923 | Writer | 
| Fighting Blood | 1923 | Writer | 
| Fighting Blood | 1923 | Writer | 
| Find Your Man | 1924 | Writer | 
| The Lighthouse by the Sea | 1924 | Writer | 
| A Broadway Butterfly | 1925 | Writer | 
| Eve's Lover | 1925 | Producer | 
| The Limited Mail | 1925 | Writer | 
| Hogan's Alley | 1925 | Writer | 
| Lady Windermere's Fan | 1925 | Producer | 
| The Cave Man | 1926 | Writer | 
| Footloose Widows | 1926 | Writer | 
| So This Is Paris | 1926 | Producer | 
| The Better 'Ole | 1926 | Screenplay | 
| Wolf's Clothing | 1927 | Screenplay | 
| The First Auto | 1927 | Producer | 
| Old San Francisco | 1927 | Writer | 
| Old San Francisco | 1927 | Producer | 
| Jaws of Steel | 1927 | Writer | 
| Tenderloin | 1928 | Producer | 
| The Terror | 1928 | Producer | 
| The Singing Fool | 1928 | Producer | 
| On With the Show! | 1929 | Producer | 
| The Show of Shows | 1929 | Producer | 
| Three Faces East | 1930 | Producer | 
| The Doorway to Hell | 1930 | Executive Producer | 
| The Life of the Party | 1930 | Writer | 
| Little Caesar | 1931 | Producer | 
| Illicit | 1931 | Producer | 
| The Public Enemy | 1931 | Producer | 
| Blonde Crazy | 1931 | Executive Producer | 
| The Man Who Played God | 1932 | Producer | 
| The Rich Are Always with Us | 1932 | Producer | 
| The Dark Horse | 1932 | Producer | 
| Doctor X | 1932 | Executive Producer | 
| Life Begins | 1932 | Executive Producer | 
| The Cabin in the Cotton | 1932 | Producer | 
| Three on a Match | 1932 | Producer | 
| 20,000 Years in Sing Sing | 1932 | Producer | 
| Parachute Jumper | 1933 | Producer | 
| The Working Man | 1933 | Producer | 
| Ex-Lady | 1933 | Producer | 
| The Bowery | 1933 | Producer | 
| Blood Money | 1933 | Producer | 
| Advice to the Lovelorn | 1933 | Producer | 
| Gallant Lady | 1933 | Producer | 
| Moulin Rouge | 1934 | Producer | 
| Looking for Trouble | 1934 | Producer | 
| The House of Rothschild | 1934 | Producer | 
| The Last Gentleman | 1934 | Producer | 
| Born to Be Bad | 1934 | Producer | 
| Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back | 1934 | Producer | 
| The Affairs of Cellini | 1934 | Producer | 
| The Mighty Barnum | 1934 | Producer | 
| Clive of India | 1935 | Producer | 
| Folies Bergère | 1935 | Producer | 
| Cardinal Richelieu | 1935 | Producer | 
| Les Misérables | 1935 | Producer | 
| Call of the Wild | 1935 | Producer | 
| Metropolitan | 1935 | Producer | 
| Thanks a Million | 1935 | Producer | 
| The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo | 1935 | Producer | 
| Show Them No Mercy! | 1935 | Producer | 
| Professional Soldier | 1935 | Producer | 
| It Had to Happen | 1936 | Producer | 
| The Prisoner of Shark Island | 1936 | Producer | 
| A Message to Garcia | 1936 | Producer | 
| The Country Beyond | 1936 | Producer | 
| Under Two Flags | 1936 | Producer | 
| Half Angel | 1936 | Producer | 
| White Fang | 1936 | Producer | 
| Poor Little Rich Girl | 1936 | Producer | 
| To Mary - with Love | 1936 | Producer | 
| Sing, Baby, Sing | 1936 | Producer | 
| The Road to Glory | 1936 | Producer | 
| Ramona | 1936 | Executive Producer | 
| Pigskin Parade | 1936 | Producer | 
| Reunion | 1936 | Executive Producer | 
| White Hunter | 1936 | Producer | 
| Banjo on My Knee | 1936 | Executive Producer | 
| On the Avenue | 1937 | Producer | 
| Nancy Steele Is Missing! | 1937 | Producer | 
| Seventh Heaven | 1937 | Producer | 
| Angel's Holiday | 1937 | Producer | 
| Slave Ship | 1937 | Producer | 
| Wee Willie Winkie | 1937 | Producer | 
| Wake Up and Live | 1937 | Producer | 
| Thin Ice | 1937 | Producer | 
| Wife, Doctor and Nurse | 1937 | Producer | 
| Lancer Spy | 1937 | Executive Producer | 
| Heidi | 1937 | Producer | 
| Love and Hisses | 1937 | Producer | 
| Happy Landing | 1938 | Producer | 
| International Settlement | 1938 | Producer | 
| Sally, Irene and Mary | 1938 | Executive Producer | 
| Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | 1938 | Producer | 
| In Old Chicago | 1938 | Producer | 
| Kentucky Moonshine | 1938 | Producer | 
| Josette | 1938 | Executive Producer | 
| Three Blind Mice | 1938 | Producer | 
| Always Goodbye | 1938 | Producer | 
| I'll Give a Million | 1938 | Producer | 
| Little Miss Broadway | 1938 | Producer | 
| Gateway | 1938 | Producer | 
| My Lucky Star | 1938 | Producer | 
| Suez | 1938 | Producer | 
| Just Around the Corner | 1938 | Producer | 
| Submarine Patrol | 1938 | Producer | 
| Kentucky | 1938 | Executive Producer | 
| Jesse James | 1939 | Producer | 
| Tail Spin | 1939 | Producer | 
| Wife, Husband and Friend | 1939 | Producer | 
| The Hound of the Baskervilles | 1939 | Executive Producer | 
| The Story of Alexander Graham Bell | 1939 | Producer | 
| Rose of Washington Square | 1939 | Producer | 
| Young Mr. Lincoln | 1939 | Producer | 
| Susannah of the Mounties | 1939 | Executive Producer | 
| Second Fiddle | 1939 | Executive Producer | 
| Hotel for Women | 1939 | Producer | 
| Stanley and Livingstone | 1939 | Producer | 
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | 1939 | Producer | 
| The Rains Came | 1939 | Producer | 
| Here I Am a Stranger | 1939 | Producer | 
| Hollywood Cavalcade | 1939 | Producer | 
| Drums Along the Mohawk | 1939 | Producer | 
| Too Busy to Work | 1939 | Producer | 
| Swanee River | 1939 | Producer | 
| The Blue Bird | 1940 | Producer | 
| Little Old New York | 1940 | Producer | 
| The Grapes of Wrath | 1940 | Producer | 
| Star Dust | 1940 | Producer | 
| Lillian Russell | 1940 | Producer | 
| Four Sons | 1940 | Producer | 
| Maryland | 1940 | Producer | 
| The Man I Married | 1940 | Producer | 
| The Return of Frank James | 1940 | Producer | 
| The Great Profile | 1940 | Producer | 
| Public Deb No. 1 | 1940 | Producer | 
| Brigham Young | 1940 | Producer | 
| Down Argentine Way | 1940 | Producer | 
| The Mark of Zorro | 1940 | Executive Producer | 
| Chad Hanna | 1940 | Producer | 
| Know For Sure | 1941 | Producer | 
| Hudson's Bay | 1941 | Producer | 
| Tall, Dark and Handsome | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| Tobacco Road | 1941 | Producer | 
| Western Union | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| That Night in Rio | 1941 | Producer | 
| The Great American Broadcast | 1941 | Producer | 
| Blood and Sand | 1941 | Producer | 
| Man Hunt | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| Moon Over Miami | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| Wild Geese Calling | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| Sun Valley Serenade | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| A Yank in the R.A.F. | 1941 | Producer | 
| Week-End in Havana | 1941 | Executive Producer | 
| How Green Was My Valley | 1941 | Producer | 
| Sex Hygiene | 1942 | Producer | 
| Song of the Islands | 1942 | Executive Producer | 
| This Above All | 1942 | Producer | 
| Moontide | 1942 | Executive Producer | 
| The Pied Piper | 1942 | Executive Producer | 
| Thunder Birds | 1942 | Executive Producer | 
| To the Shores of Tripoli | 1942 | Producer | 
| The Black Swan | 1942 | Executive Producer | 
| China Girl | 1942 | Screenplay | 
| China Girl | 1942 | Producer | 
| Crash Dive | 1943 | Executive Producer | 
| Wintertime | 1943 | Executive Producer | 
| Lifeboat | 1944 | Executive Producer | 
| The Purple Heart | 1944 | Producer | 
| Buffalo Bill | 1944 | Executive Producer | 
| Wilson | 1944 | Producer | 
| Winged Victory | 1944 | Producer | 
| Leave Her to Heaven | 1945 | Executive Producer | 
| Claudia and David | 1946 | Executive Producer | 
| Dragonwyck | 1946 | Producer | 
| Strange Triangle | 1946 | Executive Producer | 
| Somewhere in the Night | 1946 | Executive Producer | 
| Centennial Summer | 1946 | Executive Producer | 
| The Razor's Edge | 1946 | Producer | 
| The Shocking Miss Pilgrim | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Boomerang! | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Carnival in Costa Rica | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| The Homestretch | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Moss Rose | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| The Foxes of Harrow | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Nightmare Alley | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Forever Amber | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Gentleman's Agreement | 1947 | Producer | 
| Captain from Castile | 1947 | Executive Producer | 
| Call Northside 777 | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Sitting Pretty | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Fury at Furnace Creek | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Give My Regards to Broadway | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Road House | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Cry of the City | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| Apartment for Peggy | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| The Snake Pit | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| That Wonderful Urge | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| The Walls of Jericho | 1948 | Executive Producer | 
| The Forbidden Street | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| The Fan | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| It Happens Every Spring | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| You're My Everything | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| Sand | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| Slattery's Hurricane | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| Pinky | 1949 | Producer | 
| Father Was a Fullback | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| Everybody Does It | 1949 | Executive Producer | 
| Twelve O'Clock High | 1949 | Producer | 
| Under My Skin | 1950 | Executive Producer | 
| A Ticket to Tomahawk | 1950 | Executive Producer | 
| The Gunfighter | 1950 | Executive Producer | 
| Night and the City | 1950 | Executive Producer | 
| No Way Out | 1950 | Producer | 
| All About Eve | 1950 | Producer | 
| David and Bathsheba | 1951 | Producer | 
| People Will Talk | 1951 | Producer | 
| Viva Zapata! | 1952 | Producer | 
| The Snows of Kilimanjaro | 1952 | Producer | 
| Beneath the 12-Mile Reef | 1953 | Executive Producer | 
| The Egyptian | 1954 | Producer | 
| Broken Lance | 1954 | Executive Producer | 
| Seven Cities of Gold | 1955 | Executive Producer | 
| The View from Pompey's Head | 1955 | Executive Producer | 
| Good Morning, Miss Dove | 1955 | Executive Producer | 
| On the Threshold of Space | 1956 | Executive Producer | 
| The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | 1956 | Producer | 
| The King and I | 1956 | Executive Producer | 
| Island in the Sun | 1957 | Producer | 
| The Sun Also Rises | 1957 | Producer | 
| The Barbarian and the Geisha | 1958 | Executive Producer | 
| The Roots of Heaven | 1958 | Producer | 
| Crack in the Mirror | 1960 | Writer | 
| Crack in the Mirror | 1960 | Producer | 
| Sanctuary | 1961 | Producer | 
| The Big Gamble | 1961 | Producer | 
| The Longest Day | 1962 | Producer | 
| The Chapman Report | 1962 | Producer | 
| The Visit | 1964 | Producer | 
| The Agony and the Ecstasy | 1965 | Executive Producer | 
| Tora! Tora! Tora! | 1970 | Executive Producer | 
| Hung Up | 1973 | Producer | 
