E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

studios. In 1954, his production of ''

From Here to Eternity ''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. ...

'' won the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only categor ...

and in 1956, his '' Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing'' was nominated for best picture. Adler also produced the 1956 film '' Bus Stop'', starring

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

Biography

Adler was born in New York City in 1906 (some references have listed his birth year as 1908 or 1909). "Buddy" was a childhood nickname. His family ran a small chain of department stores and Adler did advertising copy for the chain. He began writing short stories in his spare time and published them under the name "Bradley Allen". In 1936 he moved to Hollywood where he wrote the Pete Smith short features for MGM. He wrote the screenplay for the short documentary film ''

Quicker'n a Wink ''Quicker'n a Wink'' is a 1940 American short documentary film in the Pete Smith Specialities series about stroboscopic photography, written by Buddy Adler and directed by George Sidney. In 1941, it won an Oscar for Best Short Subject (One-R ...

'', which won an Oscar in 1940. He also owned a small string of movie showhouses, called the Hitching Post.Producer Buddy Adler Dies at 51: Wife Anita Louise at Bedside of Fox Studio Aide (Los Angeles Times, 13 July 1960. p. B1) During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Adler served in the Signal Corps (1941–1945), ending with the rank of colonel. In 1954 Alder moved from Columbia to

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, where he produced several films.

Head of Fox

In 1956 Adler was named as Head of Production for 20th Century Fox, replacing Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1957 he established the Fox Talent School, with a $1 million budget. Actors who had their first starring roles under Adler include

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Pat Boone, Tommy Sands, Fabian, Stuart Whitman, Suzy Parker, Joanne Woodward,

France Nuyen France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French actress, model, and psychological counsellor. Early life Nguyen was born in Marseille. Her mother was French, and her father was widely reported to be Vietnamese, althoug ...

, May Britt, Bradford Dillman, Tony Randall, Barry Coe, and Diane Varsi.

Personal life

Adler was born in New York City. He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1936 and resided there for the rest of his life. In 1940 he married actress Anita Louise Fremault (1915–1970), with whom he had two children. The family were at his bedside when he died in 1960, from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

Awards

Adler received the

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Governors Awards ceremonies to "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion pictur ...

in 1957. In 1958 he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Death

Buddy Adler died of

, aged 54, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents ac ...

. His widow, who is buried there as well, survived him by ten years.Scott Wilson. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Co. (2016)

Selected filmography

* '' Flaming Star'' (1960, but died a week before filming started) * '' North to Alaska'' (1960, died midway through principal photography) * '' The Inn of the Sixth Happiness'' (1958) * ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' (1958) * '' A Hatful of Rain'' (1957) * ''

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'' is a 1957 DeLuxe Color CinemaScope film that tells the story of two people stranded on a Japanese-occupied island in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The film was adapted by John Huston and John Lee Mahin f ...

'' (1957) * '' Anastasia'' (1956) * '' Bus Stop'' (1956) * '' The Revolt of Mamie Stover'' (1956) * '' The Bottom of the Bottle'' (1956) * '' The Lieutenant Wore Skirts'' (1956) * '' The Left Hand of God'' (1955) * '' Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing'' (1955) * '' House of Bamboo'' (1955) * '' Soldier of Fortune'' (1955) * '' Violent Saturday'' (1955) * ''

'' (1953) * '' Last of the Comanches'' (1953) * '' The Harlem Globetrotters'' (1951) * '' Saturday's Hero'' (1951) * '' A Woman of Distinction'' (1950) * '' Tell It to the Judge'' (1949) * '' The Dark Past'' (1948) * ''

'' (1940)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Buddy 1906 births 1960 deaths 20th Century Studios people Film producers from New York (state) American film studio executives Businesspeople from New York City Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Deaths from lung cancer in California Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners 20th-century American businesspeople Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army colonels Military personnel from New York City