Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (/ləˈrɔɪ/; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director, producer and actor. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies.[2]
Mervyn LeRoy
October 15, 1900
September 13, 1987 (aged 86)
- Film director
- producer
- actor
1928–1968
First National Pictures (1927–1929)
Warner Bros. (1929–1938)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1938–1945) (1948–1954)
Warner Bros. (1955–1959)[1]
-
Doris Warner(m. 1934; div. 1942)
-
Katherine Spiegel(m. 1946)
2, including Warner
During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other his colleague, Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and They Won't Forget (1937).[3][4]
LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. Perhaps his most notable achievement as a producer is the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz.[5]
Death[edit]
After being bedridden for six months, LeRoy died of heart issues complicated by Alzheimer's disease in Beverly Hills, California on September 13, 1987, at the age of 86. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[285][286] He was remembered by the New York Times as "the versatile movie director of such explosive dramas as ''Little Caesar'' and ''I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang'' and such lush romances as ''Waterloo Bridge'' and ''Random Harvest."[6]