Jerry Wald
Jerome Irving Wald (September 16, 1911 – July 13, 1962) was an American screenwriter and a producer of films and radio programs.[1][2]
Jerry Wald
July 13, 1962 (aged 50)
Screenwriter; motion picture/radio program producer
1932–1962
Constance M. Polan (1941–1962; his death; 2 children)
Life and career[edit]
Early life[edit]
Born to a Jewish family[3] in Brooklyn, New York, he had a brother and sons who were active in show business. He attended James Madison High School.
He began writing a radio column for the New York Evening Graphic, while studying journalism at New York University. This led to him producing several Rambling 'Round Radio Row featurettes for Vitaphone, Warner Brothers' short subject division (1932–33).
Screenwriter[edit]
Wald's first feature credit was for the Warners movie Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934); he provided the story along with Paul Finder Moss at Warners. Wald provided the story (along with Philip Epstein) for Universal's Gift of Gab (1934).
Wald then signed with Warners where would be based for many years. He worked on the script for Maybe It's Love (1935) and the Rudy Vallée musical Sweet Music (1935).
Awards[edit]
He received four Academy Award nominations as producer of the following nominees for Best Picture: Mildred Pierce, Johnny Belinda, Peyton Place and Sons and Lovers.[5] Although he never won a competitive Academy Award, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1949.[6]
Impact[edit]
Wald is often cited as the real-life inspiration for the character Sammy Glick in the novel What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg.
Jerry Wald, was a close friend of Joan Crawford in the forties, offering her many parts including the title role in Mildred Pierce, which he produced. He convinced director Michael Curtiz that she would succeed in the role, which brought her the Oscar for Best Actress in 1946. Jerry Wald not only produced Mildred Pierce, but also Humoresque (1946), considered one of the best performances of Crawford's career, Across the Pacific (1942), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Possessed (1947), Flamingo Road (1949), The Damned Don't Cry (1950). After her career at Warner's fizzled out slowly even though she wished to remain with Warner's, after years of reinventing herself, she bought out her contract.
He is alleged to have responded, when asked why he attended Harry Cohn's funeral, “Just to be sure the bastard was dead”[7]
Marriage[edit]
Wald married his wife Constance Emily "Connie" Polan (née Polan) on Christmas Day 1941; the couple had two sons. She became a California socialite and hostess whose dinner parties, frequented by her friend Audrey Hepburn continued after her husband died.[8][9]
Death[edit]
Wald had been ill for the last few years of his life. He died, aged 50, at his home in Beverly Hills, California from a heart attack.