Hunt Stromberg Jr. (May 16, 1923 – November 24, 1986) was a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

best remembered for the discovery and casting of

Maila Nurmi Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008), known professionally as Maila Nurmi, was an American actress best known for creating the Camp (style), campy 1950s character Vampira. She was raised in Astoria, Oregon, where ...

as Vampira, and for producing the 1973 film '' Frankenstein: The True Story''.

Life and career

Stromberg was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on May 16, 1923, the son of legendary

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

and independent producer

Hunt Stromberg Hunt Stromberg (July 12, 1894 – August 23, 1968) was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, ...

. He began his career as a producer with the successful revival of

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and co ...

's ''

The Red Mill ''The Red Mill'' is an operetta written by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Henry Blossom. The farcical story concerns two American vaudevillians who wreak havoc at an inn in the Netherlands, interfering with two marriages; but all ends well. Th ...

'' in 1945 - which, at age 23, made him the youngest producer on Broadway. He followed up with revivals of ''

The Front Page ''The Front Page'' is a Broadway theatre, Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema severa ...

'' in 1946 and '' Sally'' in 1948. In the early 1950s Stromberg was

program director In service industries, such as education, a program manager or program director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services. For example, in education, a program director is responsible for developing ...

for

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

, a Los Angeles

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

-TV affiliate, and was looking for a host for a late-night

horror movie Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include monsters, apocalyp ...

program. He remembered seeing a beautiful, wasp-waisted woman win first prize at a

masquerade ball A masquerade ball (or bal masqué) is a special kind of formal ball which many participants attend in costume wearing masks. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal " costume parties" may be a descend ...

dressed as a

ghoul In folklore, a ghoul (from , ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid, often associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. In the legends or tales in which they appear, a ghoul is far more ill-mannered and foul than go ...

. After months of searching he tracked down

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and in 1954 they created Vampira. An overnight, nationwide success, the oft-copied character was to remain popular for decades. By the late 1950s Stromberg was a protégé of

James Aubrey James Aubrey may refer to: * James Aubrey (actor) (1947–2010), English actor * James T. Aubrey (1918–1994), American television and film executive * Jimmy Aubrey Jimmy Aubrey (23 October 1887 – 2 September 1983) was an English actor wh ...

and followed him to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

when he became top programming executive there, involved with such shows as ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family ...

'', ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a Prisoner-of-war camp, prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, and centers around a group of Allied prisoner ...

'', ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'', ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television absurdist sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to ''Petticoat Junction'', the series was first br ...

'', and ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

''. Due to corporate in-fighting, he brought about the cancellation of ''

The Judy Garland Show ''The Judy Garland Show'' is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963–1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with seve ...

'', and together with Aubrey was ousted from CBS in 1965. As an independent TV producer Stromberg turned to the horror genre and produced '' Frankenstein: The True Story'' in 1973, which is "Considered by many to be the finest film version of this classic tale." Following that project, he began work on a made-for-TV film adaptation of Jane Austen's ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

,'' which was never completed. (His father had produced the 1940 MGM adaptation of the novel, starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.) In 1980 he executive produced '' The Curse of King Tut's Tomb'' and at the time of his death held the movie option for

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...

's book '' Night of the Ripper''. Hunt Stromberg Jr. was married to Marilyn Elwell from 1947 to 1949. He died on November 24, 1986, in Los Angeles, California - where he was born - of a ruptured

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...

References

External links

* * 1923 births 1986 deaths Businesspeople from Los Angeles American theatre managers and producers American television show creators Television producers from California Deaths from aneurysm 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-tv-producer-stub