biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1867–1939)
|
| biography:
| Motion picture producer, born in Laupheim, Germany. He emigrated to New York City (1884) and held various jobs until he opened a nickelodeon in Chicago (1906). He soon became a leading film distributor and founded his own studio (1909) in defiance of the powerful Motion Picture Patents Co trust. His Independent Motion Picture Co (IMP) acquired smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Co in 1912. One of the most aggressive of the early film producers, he lured stars away from other companies, heavily publicized them, and showed that feature-length and sensational films could be profitable. He appointed some 70 relatives to executive posts at Universal, including his son, Carl Laemmle Jr, who became production chief at age 21, and also hired the 19 year-old Irving Thalberg, son of a friend, and entrusted him with running Universal's production studios in Hollywood. By 1935 Laemmle was forced to sell Universal, due to a combination of the Depression and his son's extravagances. |
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