Arthur Hornblow, Jr.

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Arthur Hornblow, Jr. (March 15, 1893 – July 17, 1976) was an American film producer. His father, Arthur Hornblow (1865–1942), was a noted playwright.

Biography

Hornblow graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, New York, in 1911, before studying at Dartmouth College and New York Law School, and was a member of the fraternity Theta Delta Chi. He served in counter-intelligence during World War I, then tried his hand at playwriting, before being hired as a production supervisor by Sam Goldwyn at Paramount in 1927.

He married the actress Myrna Loy in 1936. On their divorce in 1942 they threw a lavish party at the Mocambo club.

At the start of his career he specialized in the popular screwball comedies, giving Billy Wilder his first directing job, and producing several films starring Bob Hope. In 1942 he moved to MGM where he produced several film noir. In the 1950s, now an independent producer rather that a studio employee, he turned his hand to musicals and war films.

After retiring from the film business in 1962 he devoted his time to writing children's books with his third wife Leonora Schinasi.

He notably gave aspiring actress Marie Windsor her first screen test, and Constance Ockelman her new name - Veronica Lake. He lent his name to the fictional sea captain Horatio Hornblower after working with writer C. S. Forester on an aborted script.

Oscar nominations

As a producer he was nominated for an Academy Award 'Best Picture' Oscar four times, but failed to win.

• Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), comedy-western with Charles Laughton.
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941), romantic-comedy with Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland.
• Gaslight (1944), thriller with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten.
• Witness for the Prosecution (1957), courtroom drama with Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, and Elsa Lanchester.

Selected filmography

• Four Hours to Kill! (1935)
• The Princess Comes Across (1936)
• Easy Living (1937)
• High, Wide, and Handsome (1937)
• Midnight (1939)
• The Cat and the Canary (1939)
• The Ghost Breakers (1940)
• The Major and the Minor (1942)
• Gaslight (1944)
• The Hucksters (1947)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
• Oklahoma! (1955)
• The War Lover (1962)

External links

• NY Times biography
• Arthur Hornblow Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Allmovie biography