|
|
|
Private Screenings: Walter Mirisch
Monday, September 29, 2008 8:00 PM ET & 11 PM ET
|
|
|
For more than 60 years, Walter Mirisch has made an
indelible mark on the movie industry. From his early days
working for B-picture movie studios to establishing The
Mirisch Corporation with two of his brothers, he has
guided a number of major Hollywood productions to the
Silver Screen. Now the Oscar®-winning producer and
former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences will sit down with Turner Classic Movies (TCM)
host Robert Osborne for an intimate discussion in
PRIVATE SCREENINGS: WALTER MIRISCH, a one-hour
special premiering Monday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. This TCM
original will be accompanied by a night of Mirisch’s
films, including the Best Picture Oscar® winners In
the Heat of the Night (1967), West Side Story
(1961) and The Apartment (1960).
PRIVATE SCREENINGS: WALTER MIRISCH opens with
Mirisch providing a short history of how he went from
producing low-budget features for Monogram to serving as
executive producer with its subsidiary, Allied Artists.
It was during his Allied Artists period that he supervised
production on the sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body
Snatchers. While at the studio, he also forged
relationships with three top filmmakers: John Huston,
Billy Wilder and William Wyler.
Following the critical success but financial failure of
Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon (1957) and Wyler’s
Friendly Persuasion (1956), Mirisch and his brother
Marvin and half-brother Harold decided to start their own
independent production company. The Mirisch Company, Inc.
soon emerged as the preeminent independent production
outfit of the period following the decline of the major
Hollywood studios.
At first, The Mirisch Company offered Westerns, but they
soon became more ambitious. Walter Mirisch was executive
producer of The Magnificent Seven (1960), the same
year the Mirisch Company produced Billy Wilder’s The
Apartment, which won the Best Picture Oscar. The Mirisch
Company's 1961 release, West Side Story, also won the
Oscar for Best Picture. In 1967, Mirisch, himself,
produced the Academy Award-winning Best Picture In the
Heat of the Night. He continued producing motion pictures
into the 1970s, including an ambitious
rendition of Dracula (1979), starring Frank
Langella and Laurence Olivier.
Although Mirisch had produced the 1959 television series
Wichita Town, starring Joel McCrea, The Mirisch
Company did not get into TV on a regular basis until the
‘80s, when Mirisch was executive producer of a series of
Desperado TV movies. The company remained active in
television production into the ‘90s.
In addition to Wilder and Huston, key directors associated
with The Mirisch Company during the years included Blake
Edwards and Norman Jewison. Notable films produced
directly by Mirisch or under his supervision as studio
head include Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The
Pink Panther (1964), The Children's Hour
(1964), Some Like It Hot (1959), Toys in the
Attic (1963) and The Russians Are Coming, the
Russians Are Coming (1968).
Mirisch is also known for his many activities in the
entertainment industry. He served four terms as the
president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, and three terms as president of the Producers
Guild of America.
PRIVATE SCREENINGS: WALTER MIRISCH is full of fascinating
anecdotes:
· Receiving the gift of a car from Joel McCrea,
which was bought with the profits from one of their films;
· Screening The Seven Samurai with director
John Sturges so they could figure out how to remake it as
The Magnificent Seven;
· Being amazed at the performance Billy Wilder was
able to get from Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It
Hot;
· Getting Jerome Robbins to stay on time and on
budget during the making of West Side Story;
· Turning a Broadway mystery play into the
Inspector Clouseau farce A Shot in the Dark;
· And expanding the scope of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences to include archiving and
education.
In the end, Mirisch sums up what he believes to be the key
to his success: “I think it’s my love of storytelling and
the fact that making one picture only fired my desire to
make another picture. The idea of thinking of a
particular story and being able to implement those
necessities that will finally translate that story into
film and make it come to life is so alluring that it’s
irresistible to me. It’s not only creating life in
movies; it’s creating life that’s immortal. For those of
us given the opportunity to do it, it’s the most anyone
could ask for.”
 
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
31 Days of Oscar Highlights for Feb. 16
Join us for Billy Wilder's outrageous comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), nominated for 6 Oscars® plus The Odd Couple (1968), Grand Hotel (1932), Key Largo (1948) and 9 more Academy Award honorees.
MORE >
|
|
TCM UK
| 
TCM Spain
| 
TCM France
| TCM Latin America
| TCM Asia
| TCM Germany
TCM.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network.
