28 Facts About Walter Wanger

Walter Wanger began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and eventually worked at virtually every major studio as either a contract producer or an independent.

Walter Wanger served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1939 to October 1941 and from December 1941 to 1945.

Strongly influenced by European films, Wanger developed a reputation as an intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas.

Walter Wanger achieved notoriety when, in 1951, he shot and wounded the agent of his wife, Joan Bennett, because he suspected they were having an affair.

Walter Wanger was convicted of the crime and served a four-month sentence, then returned to making movies.

Walter Wanger was the son of Stella and Sigmund Feuchtwanger, who were from German Jewish families that had emigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Walter Wanger was from a non-observant Jewish family, and later attended Episcopalian services with his wife.

Walter Wanger attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was a founding member of the Dartmouth Laboratory Theatre.

Walter Wanger initially returned to theatre production, before a chance meeting with film producer Jesse Lasky drew him into the world of commercial filmmaking.

The film helped establish the popularity of the Orientalist genre, which Walter Wanger returned to a number of times during his career.

Walter Wanger travelled to Britain where he worked as a prominent cinema and theatre manager until 1924.

Walter Wanger's second spell with Paramount lasted from 1924 to 1931, during which time his annual wage rose from $150,000 to $250,000.

Walter Wanger was tasked with overseeing the work of the studio heads, which meant he had little involvement with the production of individual films.

Walter Wanger opposed this move and felt he was being squeezed out of the company.

Walter Wanger convinced his colleagues of the importance of sound, and personally oversaw the conversion of 1928 silent baseball film Warming Up to sound.

Walter Wanger had been informed that his contract would not be renewed, and he had already left the company.

Walter Wanger was recruited by Harry Cohn, the studio's co-founder, who wanted to move Columbia away from its Poverty Row past by producing several special, large-budget productions each year to complement the bulk of the studio's low-budget films.

Walter Wanger was to take on a greater personal role in individual films than he had previously, although he always attempted to give directors and screenwriters creative freedom.

Walter Wanger was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1946 for his six years service as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Walter Wanger refused another honorary Oscar in 1949 for Joan of Arc, out of anger over the fact that the film, which he felt was one of his best, had not been nominated for Best Picture.

In 1963, Walter Wanger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for his production of Cleopatra.

Walter Wanger died of a heart attack, aged 74, in New York City.

Walter Wanger was interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, California.

In 1951 Walter Wanger made headlines for shooting at Jennings Lang, agent of Walter Wanger's wife Joan Bennett.

Walter Wanger, who saw the parking car of his wife, waited there until Bennett came back to her car, in company of Lang.

Walter Wanger was booked on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder.

Walter Wanger blamed the trouble on financial setbacks involving film productions Wanger was involved with, and said he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Walter Wanger served a four-month sentence in the County Honor Farm at Castaic.