Darryl F. Zanuck ranks as one of the most famous, long-lived of Hollywood's movie moguls. He oversaw scores of films and created many film stars. Many of these films and their stars were tremendously popular at the time and remain so today. He revived and created Twentieth Century-Fox, functioning as its chief of production from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Three of the films he produced received academy awards: How Green Was My Valley, 1941; Gentle-men's Agreement, 1947; and All About Eve, 1950. Zanuck created several stars; child star Shirley Temple and Betty Grable (World War II's "pin-up girl") made his Twentieth Century-Fox into a truepowerhouse. After the war, Zanuck produced a series of films that dealt with social issues including racism and mental hospitals. These post-war films, Gentlemen's Agreement, Pinky, and The Snake Pit, proved tremendously popular money-makers for the studio. Upon returning to Fox in the early 1960s, Zanuck worked with his son Richard and produced one major hit, The Sound of Music. Zanuck was a brilliant producer who possessed the unequaled ability to detect potential in screenplays and screen actors.

Further Reading:

Behlmer, Rudy, editor. Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck: The Golden Years at Twentieth Century-Fox. New York, Grove Press, 1993.

Custen, George. Twentieth Century's Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Culture of Hollywood. New York, Basic Books, 1997.