William Fox
male
Born on January 01, 1879 (146 years old)
Passed Away on May 08, 1952
From Tolcsva, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
Known for Production
Biography
Starting at the age 8 he had a series of jobs before starting his own business in 1900, which was sold to buy a Brooklyn nickelodeon in 1904. As the new owner with an empty house, Fox hired a coin manipulator and a barker to attract patrons into the dark 146-seat theatre. Once audiences adequately understood what moving pictures were, live acts were dispensed with. More nickelodeons were opened and he became a successful film exhibitor. He then won a long legal battle against Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Patent Company, ending the film trust and allowing him to start his own production company in 1913. Operations were consolidated into the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Theda Bara and Tom Mix starred in successful pictures made at the Fox Hollywood studios and the profits from them, and from the 1000 house Fox theatre chain, paid for "artistic" projects like Sunrise (1926), for awards and critical acclaim. In 1927, Fox acquired the American patent rights to the sound-on-film process developed by a Swiss firm. Fox pioneered the widescreen film with The Big Trail (1930). Poised for the future of talkies, he attempted to buy MGM just in time for 1929s stock market crash. In 1930 Fox was forced out of his company after a federal anti-trust investigation. His version is told in 1933 Upton Sinclair's book, 'Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox.' In 1936, a year after Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures merged with Fox Films, Fox bribed a judge during the liquidation of his holdings in bankruptcy proceedings. His sentence, a year in prison, began in 1941. Paroled in 1943, he was a pariah in Hollywood. Though secure from his many patent holdings, the industry for which he had been so visionary was closed to him. A virtual pariah at the time of his death, no industry representative came to eulogize at his funeral.
Cast Credits
Crew Credits
- 1941
- 1935
- 1934
- 1933
- 1932
- 1931
The Big Trail
as
Producer
1931
Annabelle's Affairs
as
Executive Producer
1931
Quick Millions
as
Producer
1931
Six Cylinder Love
as
Producer
1931
Slaves of Fashion
as
Producer
1931
Do You Know Your Wife?
as
Producer
1931
Law of the Harem
as
Producer
1931
You Have to Marry the Prince
as
Producer
1931
There Were Thirteen
as
Producer
1931
The Spy
as
Producer
1931
- 1930
- 1929
Lucky Star
as
Producer
1929
The Black Watch
as
Presenter
1929
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
as
Producer
1929
They Had to See Paris
as
Executive Producer
1929
The River
as
Producer
1929
The Valiant
as
Presenter
1929
Not Quite Decent
as
Presenter
1929
Strong Boy
as
Presenter
1929
Happy Days
as
Producer
1929
The Far Call
as
Producer
1929
Happy Days
as
Presenter
1929
Seven Faces
as
Producer
1929
- 1928
- 1927
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
as
Producer
1927
The Loves of Carmen
as
Presenter
1927
East Side, West Side
as
Producer
1927
Cradle Snatchers
as
Writer
1927
Upstream
as
Producer
1927
7th Heaven
as
Producer
1927
Tumbling River
as
Presenter
1927
Ladies Must Dress
as
Presenter
1927
Is Zat So?
as
Producer
1927
The Gay Retreat
as
Presenter
1927
Two Girls Wanted
as
Presenter
1927
The War Horse
as
Presenter
1927
The Music Master
as
Producer
1927
Publicity Madness
as
Producer
1927
- 1926
- 1925
- 1924
- 1923
Hoodman Blind
as
Presenter
1923
If Winter Comes
as
Producer
1923
- no image
Jungle Pals
as
Executive Producer
1923
The Face on the Barroom Floor
as
Producer
1923
Gentle Julia
as
Producer
1923
Unreal News Reel
as
Executive Producer
1923
Snowdrift
as
Presenter
1923
Does It Pay?
as
Presenter
1923
The Gunfighter
as
Presenter
1923
The Silent Command
as
Presenter
1923
Cameo Kirby
as
Presenter
1923
Times Have Changed
as
Producer
1923
- 1922
Monte Cristo
as
Producer
1922
Little Miss Smiles
as
Presenter
1922
- no image
Step Lively, Please
as
Executive Producer
1922
Honor First
as
Presenter
1922
Honor First
as
Producer
1922
- no image
A Self-Made Man
as
Presenter
1922
- no image
A Self-Made Man
as
Producer
1922
Pawn Ticket 210
as
Presenter
1922
Without Fear
as
Presenter
1922
Shirley of the Circus
as
Presenter
1922
Who Are My Parents?
as
Executive Producer
1922
- no image
A Stage Romance
as
Presenter
1922
The Great Night
as
Presenter
1922
Sky High
as
Producer
1922
- 1921
- 1920
- no image
His Noisy Still
as
Executive Producer
1920
Just Pals
as
Producer
1920
The Strongest
as
Presenter
1920
The Face at Your Window
as
Presenter
1920
Singing River
as
Presenter
1920
The Husband Hunter
as
Producer
1920
The Joyous Trouble-Makers
as
Presenter
1920
Twins of Suffering Creek
as
Presenter
1920
The Orphan
as
Presenter
1920
Flames of the Flesh
as
Executive Producer
1920
A Sister to Salome
as
Producer
1920
- 1919
- no image
Love Is Love
as
Presenter
1919
Words and Music by -
as
Producer
1919
Cowardice Court
as
Producer
1919
Wings of the Morning
as
Presenter
1919
The Man Hunter
as
Producer
1919
The Man Hunter
as
Presenter
1919
- no image
A Schoolhouse Scandal
as
Executive Producer
1919
The Forbidden Room
as
Presenter
1919
The Love That Dares
as
Presenter
1919
- 1918
Salome
as
Producer
1918
Why I Would Not Marry
as
Presenter
1918
The Woman and the Law
as
Producer
1918
The Woman and the Law
as
Presenter
1918
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
as
Presenter
1918
The Queen of Hearts
as
Presenter
1918
The Woman Who Gave
as
Producer
1918
- no image
A Neighbor's Keyhole
as
Executive Producer
1918
- no image
Her Husband's Wife
as
Executive Producer
1918
Are Married Policemen Safe?
as
Executive Producer
1918
Son of a Gun
as
Executive Producer
1918
True Blue
as
Presenter
1918
The Girl with the Champagne Eyes
as
Presenter
1918
The Blindness of Divorce
as
Executive Producer
1918
- 1917
Cleopatra
as
Producer
1917
The Honor System
as
Producer
1917
The Darling of Paris
as
Producer
1917
The Price of Silence
as
Presenter
1917
The Scarlet Pimpernel
as
Presenter
1917
The Babes in the Woods
as
Presenter
1917
Madame du Barry
as
Presenter
1917
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
as
Presenter
1917
Jack and the Beanstalk
as
Presenter
1917
- no image
Some Boy
as
Presenter
1917
- 1916
- 1915
A Fool There Was
as
Producer
1915
From the Valley of the Missing
as
Presenter
1915
- no image
Anna Karenina
as
Producer
1915
The Wonderful Adventure
as
Presenter
1915
- no image
A Woman's Resurrection
as
Presenter
1915
Should a Mother Tell
as
Presenter
1915
- no image
The Song of Hate
as
Presenter
1915
Kreutzer Sonata
as
Presenter
1915
The Galley Slave
as
Producer
1915
The Galley Slave
as
Presenter
1915
- 1914
