James Hill (August 1, 1916 – January 11, 2001) was an American film producer and screenwriter active from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and came to Hollywood as a writer, working on films and televisions shows for Warner Brothers Pictures and Columbia Broadcasting System. He was eventually teamed with film producer Harold Hecht and actor Burt Lancaster when the pair produced His Majesty O'Keefe for their own film production company, Norma Productions. The movie was filmed in 1952 in the Fiji Islands, but only released in 1954.[1]
James Hill | |
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Born | August 1, 1916 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
Died | January 11, 2001 (aged 84) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
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In 1953, Hecht and Lancaster formed the imprint Hecht-Lancaster Productions and began producing films for United Artists, hiring Hill as producer for Vera Cruz, The Kentuckian and Trapeze. In early 1956, before Trapeze was released, Lancaster and Hecht announced in a press conference that Hill had been made an equal partner in their film production company; Hecht-Lancaster Productions would be changing name to Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions at the start of the next fiscal year in January 1957. From 1954 to 1959, the Norma Productions subsidiaries Hecht-Lancaster Productions and later Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions, were the biggest and most important independent production units in Hollywood.[2][3][4]
Hill was the fifth and final husband of actress Rita Hayworth, married from 1958 to 1961.[5][6] The pair met when Hayworth was filming Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions' Separate Tables. Like Hayworth, he developed Alzheimer's disease. He died in Santa Monica, California in 2001.[7]
Filmography
editReferences
edit- ^ "4 Time Loser Rita To Try Again: Barbara Eyes 7th". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Associated Press. November 12, 1957.
- ^ "The Struggle for Survival", Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin, September 2, 1957, p23
- ^ "What's With Hecht-Hill-Lancaster?", The Tuscaloosa News, September 24, 1959, p5
- ^ "Burt Lancaster Termed Enigma", The Spokesman Review, May 27, 1961, p77
- ^ "Rita Hayworth Becomes Mrs. Hill". Lodi News-Sentinel. Associated Press. February 3, 1958.
- ^ "Rita Sheds No. 5 But No Tears". The Miami News. Associated Press. September 7, 1961. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- ^ "Producer James Hill dies at 85". January 16, 2001.
External links
edit- James Hill at IMDb