Hal B. Wallis

Hal B. Wallis
Born	Harold Brent Wallis September 14, 1899(1899-09-14) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 5, 1986 (aged 87) Rancho Mirage, California
Spouse(s)	Louise Fazenda (1927-1962) (one son Brent) Martha Hyer (1966-1986) (his death)

Hal B. Wallis, C.B.E. (born Harold Brent Wallis; September 14, 1899 – October 5, 1986) was an Academy Award-winning American motion picture producer.

Career

Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago, his family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros. in 1923.

Within a few years, Wallis became involved in the production end of the business and would eventually become head of production at Warners. In a career that spanned more than fifty years, he was involved with the production of more than 400 feature-length movies.

Among the many significant movies he produced was Casablanca, one of the most honored movies in Hollywood history. Wallis left Warner Bros. in 1944, after a clash with Jack Warner over Warner's acceptance of the Best Picture Oscar to Casablanca, to work as an independent producer, enjoying considerable success both commercially and critically. Among his financial hits were the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies, and several of Elvis Presley's movies. He produced True Grit, for which John Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor of 1969

Hal Wallis received sixteen Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, winning for Casablanca in 1943. For his consistently high quality of motion picture production, he was twice honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was also nominated for seven Golden Globe awards, twice winning awards for Best Picture. In 1975, he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Marriages

Hal Wallis was married twice, to actress Louise Fazenda (1927-1962) and to actress Martha Hyer (1966-1986).

Death

He died in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 87. He is interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.

In popular culture

Wallis was portrayed by actor Bill Lake in the 2002 CBS TV movie Martin and Lewis.

Selected filmography

• Little Caesar (1931)
• Central Airport (1933)
• The Petrified Forest (1936)
• Kid Galahad (1937)
• West of Shanghai (1937)
• The Invisible Menace (1938)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Dark Victory (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• Castle on the Hudson (1940)
• Santa Fe Trail (1940)
• Sergeant York (1941)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• This Is the Army (1943)
• Love Letters (1945)
• You Came Along (1945)
• Desert Fury (1947)
• Dark City (1950)
• The Furies (1950)
• The Rainmaker (1956)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
• Career (1959)
• Summer and Smoke (1961)
• Becket (1964)
• Barefoot in the Park (1967)
• True Grit (1969)
• Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
• Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
• Rooster Cogburn (1975)

Awards and nominations

• "Academy Award for Best Picture" as producer:
  1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  2. Four Daughters (1938)
  3. Jezebel (1938)
  4. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
  5. The Letter (1940)
  6. Kings Row (1942)
  7. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
  8. Casablanca (1942)
  9. Watch on the Rhine (1943)
  10. The Rose Tattoo (1955)
  11. Becket (1964)
  12. Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

References

• Hal B. Wallis at the TCM Movie Database

External links

• Hal B. Wallis at the Internet Movie Database
• Hal B. Wallis at the TCM Movie Database