Known as "Boy Wonder" for his considerable power at an early age, Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) was an influential film executive, first at Universal, then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Before his death at the age of 37, Thalberg helped redefine how movies are made within the studio system and became the consummate movie mogul.

Irving Grant Thalberg was born on May 30, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of two children and the only son born to William Thalberg and his wife Henrietta Heyman Thalberg. Both were German immigrants. William Thalberg worked as a lace importer. Thalberg suffered from ill health since birth. He was born with a heart defect, and doctors predicted that he would die before the age of 30. While a teenager Thalberg also suffered from diphtheria and rheumatic fever, and only grew to a height of 5'6". He was educated at home during his bouts of illness, but still...