Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck was born on September 5th, 1902 in Nebraska, US. He was an American producer and was a Colonel in Signal Corps in 1941 when US joined WWII. His parents were Louise and Frank Zanuck, and they owned a hotel. Frank was a rebel from his childhood at the age of 8; he along with his mother migrated to Los Angeles but was forced to return to Nebraska when his father called them.

At the age of 16, he was recruited by the US Army and served in the Nebraska National Guard along with the other recruited Nebraskans. When he came back to the US, Zanuck worked at many places before he became a writer. Warner Brothers hired him where he wrote many episodes for Old San Francisco and Red Hot Tires. In 1931, Zanuck became the production head at Warner Bros.

He founded the 20th Century Pictures Inc along with Joseph Schenck in 1933; the studio became very popular in the US with a success rate of 94% only with its 19 releases with movies like Clive of India and Les Miserables Click to look into! >> Read More... . Frank later involved himself in scripts, editing and became the Vice-President of Production department when the Century Pictures brought Fox studios forming 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. In 1941, Zanuck joined the WWII as a Colonel when the US entered the World War.

From 1941 to 1944, he was away from the studios, and William Goetz supervised the firm until he left and joined Universal when Frank returned to the studios in 1944. Frank seemed to be a different man since he came back from the war, he avoided the studio’s work and kept himself busy at home and read books. He went through all the projects and ventures that were taken up by the studio while he was away. In 1956, Frank left the studios and moved to Europe along with Virginia Fox, his wife and went on to produce independently.

He had a contract with Fox studios that were willing to help him if they find the work profitable. Zanuck returned with the aim to create, “The Longest Day” but the project was on hold due to the unfinished “Cleopatra”. By the end of the 19th century, Zanuck threw away money for his then girlfriend; Genevieve Gilles had launched her under his studios. The studio faced failure when none of Zanuck movies could go well, and the studio declined. Zanuck replaced his son, Richard as the President but her mother came to the rescue with her 100,000 shares making her one of the major shareholder of the firm. She restored her son as the President, and the studio fired her faithless husband. Frank had multiple attacks, and he died on 22nd December 1979 due to jaw cancer and now rested at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.