72 Facts About Irving Thalberg

Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures.

Irving Thalberg was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including Grand Hotel, China Seas, A Night at the Opera, Mutiny on the Bounty, Camille and The Good Earth.

Irving Thalberg's films carved out an international market, "projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom", states biographer Roland Flamini.

Irving Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, and as a child was afflicted with a congenital heart disease that doctors said would kill him before he reached the age of thirty.

Irving Thalberg then found work as a secretary with Universal Studios' New York office, and was later made studio manager for their Los Angeles facility.

Irving Thalberg was made head of production of MGM in 1925, at the age of twenty-six, helping MGM become the most successful studio in Hollywood.

Irving Thalberg had the ability to combine quality with commercial success, and was credited with bringing his artistic aspirations in line with the demands of audiences.

Irving Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, to German Jewish immigrant parents, William and Henrietta.

Irving Thalberg hoped that the schoolwork and reading would distract him from the "tantalizing sounds" of children playing outside his window.

When Irving Thalberg returned to school, he finished high school but lacked the stamina for college, which he felt would have required constant late-night studying and cramming for exams.

Irving Thalberg found work as an office secretary at Universal Pictures' New York office, and later became personal secretary to the studio's founder and president, Carl Laemmle.

Irving Thalberg earned $25 weekly, becoming adept at making insightful observations, which impressed Laemmle.

Irving Thalberg gave him suggestions, and thus impressed Laemmle by his ability to understand and explain problems.

Irving Thalberg was one among the majority of Hollywood film industry workers who migrated from the East Coast, primarily from New York.

Irving Thalberg quickly established his tenacity as he battled with well-known director Erich von Stroheim over the length of Foolish Wives.

Irving Thalberg had von Stroheim come to his office, which he did still wearing his film costume as a Russian Imperial Guard and escorted by members of his production team.

Irving Thalberg quietly explained that the director worked under the producer, and it was his responsibility to control costs.

Irving Thalberg again called von Stroheim to his office, handed him a long letter written and signed by himself, describing the problems, and summarily fired von Stroheim as of that moment.

Irving Thalberg likewise gained the respect of leading playwrights, some of whom looked down on him due to his youth.

Irving Thalberg's youth contributed to his open-mindedness to the ideas of others.

Irving Thalberg just looked into your eyes, spoke softly, and after a few minutes he cast a spell on you.

Irving Thalberg had a gift of empathy, and almost complete perspective.

Biographer Bob Thomas writes that after three years at the studio, Irving Thalberg continually proved his value.

Rather than just a horror picture, Irving Thalberg suggested turning it into a spectacle which would include a replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Irving Thalberg produced a number of Universal's prestige films, which made the company profitable.

In late 1922, Thalberg was introduced to Louis B Mayer, president of a small but dynamic and fast-growing studio.

Irving Thalberg continued developing innovative ideas and overseeing most of MGM's pictures.

From 1924 until 1936, when Irving Thalberg died at the age of 37, "almost every film bore Irving Thalberg's imprint", wrote Mark Vieira.

Irving Thalberg introduced the first horror films and coauthored the Production Code, the set of moral guidelines that all film studios agreed to follow.

Irving Thalberg helped synthesize and merge the world of stage drama and literary classics with Hollywood films.

Irving Thalberg was generally opposed to location shooting overseas where he could not oversee production and control costs, as happened with Ben Hur.

Irving Thalberg was supported by most of the studio in these kinds of creative decisions.

Irving Thalberg had the quality, rare among showmen, and precious among men, of standing back after an achievement and letting the other fellow take the credit.

Irving Thalberg just saw a little farther than most of the others, and trusted his vision, and worked like a laborer until it came true.

Irving Thalberg began using two stars in a film, rather than one, as had been the tradition at all the studios, such as pairing Greta Garbo with John Gilbert, Clark Gable with Jean Harlow, and William Powell with Myrna Loy.

Irving Thalberg went against consensus and took another risk with The Great Ziegfeld, costarring Luise Rainer.

Irving Thalberg wanted his female actors to appear "cool, classy and beautiful," notes Flamini.

Irving Thalberg realized that old stars few had heard of could be made into new ones.

Irving Thalberg approved of using her without a screen test and offered his rationale:.

Irving Thalberg cast him in the role of "Machine Gun Butch," which had been meant for recently deceased Lon Chaney, in The Big House, an energetic prison picture that became a huge hit.

Irving Thalberg's bringing Broadway productions to the screen to develop higher picture standards sometimes resulted in "studied" acting or "stagey" sets, notes Flamini.

Irving Thalberg likewise did not think that color would replace black-and-white in movies.

Irving Thalberg felt differently, and thought the film would affect movie audiences, due to its classic literary source, and would highlight MGM as a major new studio.

Irving Thalberg therefore discarded much of the original footage shot in Italy and recreated the set on MGM's back lots in Culver City, which added more millions to the production, yet gave him more control over production.

Flamini notes that Irving Thalberg's "gamble paid off," drawing international attention to MGM, and to Irving Thalberg within the movie industry for his bold action.

Irving Thalberg achieved that by instead making a hero of the British Royal Navy, whereby the officers and shipmates would from then on display their mutual respect.

Irving Thalberg had to convince Clark Gable to accept the role against his will.

When Irving Thalberg fell ill in the final weeks of 1932, Mayer took advantage of the situation and replaced him with David O Selznick and Walter Wanger.

Mr Irving Thalberg had a heavy attack of influenza that lasted several days and, although he was quite ill, he recovered nicely.

Once Irving Thalberg recovered sufficiently from his bout with the "flu" and was able to return to work later in 1933, it was as one of MGM's unit producers, albeit one who had first choice on projects as well as preferential access to all the studio's resources, including over casting its stars.

One of Irving Thalberg's traits was his ability to work long hours into the night with little sign of fatigue.

Irving Thalberg began dating actress Norma Shearer a few years after he joined MGM.

Irving Thalberg went on to be one of MGM's biggest stars of the 1930s.

Shortly after returning from Monterey, Irving Thalberg was diagnosed with pneumonia while on the set of A Day at the Races.

Irving Thalberg's condition worsened steadily, and he eventually required an oxygen tent at home.

Irving Thalberg returned to the set with tears in his eyes and told the others.

Irving Thalberg's funeral took place two days later, and when the services began the other studios throughout Hollywood observed five minutes of silence.

The passing of Irving Thalberg is the greatest conceivable loss to the motion-picture industry, and I say that absolutely without qualification.

Services were held at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple that Irving Thalberg had occasionally attended.

Erich von Stroheim, who had been fired by Irving Thalberg, came to pay his respects.

Irving Thalberg is buried in a private marble tomb in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, lying at rest beside his wife, Norma Shearer Irving Thalberg Arrouge.

Irving Thalberg ventured into uncharted land in his search for improved film entertainment, and his attainments became the goals of his competitors.

Irving Thalberg was ever seeking refinement in visual images, in sound and music, in acting style and directorial technique.

Irving Thalberg recognized when words sang, when characters lost their cardboard effect and acquired dimension, when events could be so devised to stir the emotions and raise the spirit.

Irving Thalberg's films performed those feats to an amazing degree, and no filmmaker has since achieved his measure.

Irving Thalberg closely supervised the making of "more pictures than any other producer in Hollywood's history", and was considered the "archetype of the creative producer", adds Flamini.

Irving Thalberg refused to take credit as producer, and as a result, his name never appeared on the screen while he was alive.

Irving Thalberg claimed that "credit you give yourself is not worth having".

Irving Thalberg carries the whole studio operation in his head.

Irving Thalberg was portrayed in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces by Robert Evans, who went on to become a studio head himself.

Irving Thalberg was portrayed by Bill Cusack in Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies, a TV film based on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which Indiana Jones is depicted as taking part in Irving Thalberg's conflict with Erich von Stroheim over Foolish Wives.

In 2020, Irving Thalberg is played by Ferdinand Kingsley in the David Fincher film Mank.