Myron Selznick

• Born: 1898 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Died: 1944
• Active: '20s
• Major Genres: Adventure, Romance
• Career Highlights: Rupert of Hentzau, The Common Law, Reported Missing
• First Major Screen Credit: One Week of Love (1922)

Biography

Myron Selznick was a producer and former head of Selznick Pictures just before that studio's collapse, but he is best remembered as a pioneering talent agent and held under his wing the careers of such stars and directors as Constance Bennett, George Cukor, Alfred Hitchcock, W.C. Fields, Paulette Goddard, Rouben Mamoulian, and Laurence Olivier. Selznick was the brother of David O. Selznick and the son of movie mogul Lewis J. Selznick. Following his drop-out from Columbia University, Selznick went to work in his father's company as a film examiner. He eventually rose through the ranks to become a producer before he was of legal age, making him the youngest producer in Hollywood. By the time he was 21, Selznick had become the chief producer of Selznick Pictures. He was then given the presidency until 1923, when the company folded. Afterward, Selznick made an unsuccessful bid as a freelance producer. He found his true calling by 1928 as an agent. In that capacity, he was instrumental in developing the trend whereby stars produced their own pictures. A powerful force in Tinseltown, he was as hated as he was loved. Selznick died in his mid-forties. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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