Pandro S. Berman
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Pandro Samuel Berman (March 28, 1905 – July 13, 1996), also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer.
Berman was an assistant director during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair and Ralph Ince. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939.
After David O. Selznick became chief of production at RKO in October 1931, Berman managed to survive Selznick's general firing of most of the staff. Selznick named Berman producer for the adaptation of Fannie Hurst's short story Night Bell, a tale of a Jewish doctor's rise out of the Lower East Side ghetto to the height of becoming a Park Avenue physician, which Selznick personally retitled Symphony of Six Million. He ordered Berman to have references to ethnic life in the Jewish ghetto restored. The movie was a box-office and critical success. Both Selznick and Berman were proud of the picture, with Berman later saying it was the "first good movie" he had produced.
The Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Gunga Din (both 1939) were completed.
Upset when an RKO power play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl (1941), National Velvet (1944), The Bribe (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Butterfield 8 (1960).
He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move (1970).
Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952).
Berman died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91. He was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.
Pandro Samuel Berman (March 28, 1905 – July 13, 1996), also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer.
Berman was an assistant director during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair and Ralph Ince. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939.
After David O. Selznick became chief of production at RKO in October 1931, Berman managed to survive Selznick's general firing of most of the staff. Selznick named Berman producer for the adaptation of Fannie Hurst's short story Night Bell, a tale of a Jewish doctor's rise out of the Lower East Side ghetto to the height of becoming a Park Avenue physician, which Selznick personally retitled Symphony of Six Million. He ordered Berman to have references to ethnic life in the Jewish ghetto restored. The movie was a box-office and critical success. Both Selznick and Berman were proud of the picture, with Berman later saying it was the "first good movie" he had produced.
The Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Gunga Din (both 1939) were completed.
Upset when an RKO power play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl (1941), National Velvet (1944), The Bribe (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Butterfield 8 (1960).
He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move (1970).
Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952).
Berman died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91. He was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.
Known for
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm
The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
Move
Justine
A Patch of Blue
A Cinderella Named Elizabeth
Honeymoon Hotel
The Prize
Sweet Bird of Youth
BUtterfield 8
All the Fine Young Cannibals
The Reluctant Debutante
The Brothers Karamazov
Jailhouse Rock
Something of Value
Tea and Sympathy
Bhowani Junction
Quentin Durward
Blackboard Jungle
The Long, Long Trailer
Knights of the Round Table
All the Brothers Were Valiant
The Oscars
Battle Circus
The Prisoner of Zenda
Ivanhoe
The Light Touch
Father's Little Dividend
Soldiers Three
Father of the Bride
The Doctor and the Girl
Madame Bovary
The Bribe
The Three Musketeers
Living in a Big Way
The Sea of Grass
Undercurrent
The Picture of Dorian Gray
National Velvet
The Seventh Cross
Dragon Seed
Slightly Dangerous
Somewhere I'll Find You
Rio Rita
Love Crazy
Ziegfeld Girl
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Allegheny Uprising
5th Ave Girl
In Name Only
Bachelor Mother
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Gunga Din
The Mad Miss Manton
Room Service
Carefree
Having Wonderful Time
Vivacious Lady
A Damsel in Distress
Stage Door
Shall We Dance
The Soldier and the Lady
Quality Street
That Girl from Paris
Winterset
The Big Game
Swing Time
Mary of Scotland
Follow the Fleet
Muss 'em Up
Sylvia Scarlett
I Dream Too Much
In Person
Top Hat
Alice Adams
Break of Hearts
Roberta
Romance in Manhattan
The Little Minister
By Your Leave
Wednesday's Child
The Gay Divorcee
Gridiron Flash
The Richest Girl in the World
The Age of Innocence
Down to Their Last Yacht
The Fountain
Their Big Moment
His Greatest Gamble
Bachelor Bait
Hat, Coat and Glove
Of Human Bondage
We're Rich Again
Let's Try Again
Cockeyed Cavaliers
Murder on the Blackboard
The Life of Vergie Winters
Stingaree
Where Sinners Meet
Strictly Dynamite
This Man Is Mine
Spitfire
Man of Two Worlds
Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men
Ann Vickers
Morning Glory
Bed of Roses
The Silver Cord
Sweepings
Christopher Strong
The Monkey's Paw
The Half-Naked Truth
The Age of Consent
What Price Hollywood?
Symphony of Six Million
Find Your Man