Walter Wanger

WALTER WANGER d1968. American film producer active from the 1910s. His career concluded in 1963 with the turbulent production of "Cleopatra" his last film. He began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and eventually worked at virtually every major studio as either a contract producer or an independent. He also served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts from 1939 to October 1941 and from December 1941 to 1945. Strongly influenced by European films, he developed a reputation as an intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas. He achieved notoriety when in 1951, he shot and wounded the agent of his then-wife Joan Bennett, because he suspected they were having an affair. He was convicted of the crime and served a four-month sentence, then returned to making movies. He died in New York aged 74 on November 18th 1968. After his death, his production company (Walter Wanger Productions) was sold to and absorbed by Time-Life films