William Belasco (July 30, 1934 - February 26, 1976) was a film producer.
Belasco was a theatrical agent who had helped "package" the TV series Batman and The Green Hornet. His clients included Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Chuck Connors. [1]
He sold his agency Progressive Management Corp in 1968 and joined MGM as a producer for whom he made a number of films. Blake Edwards was critical of Belasco's behaviour while making The Carey Treatment. [2] Belasco moved to MGM in 1975.
Belasco formed a partnership with Sal Mineo to make a film called McCaffrey. Mineo was murdered and Belasco was going to hold a memorial for the actor at Belasco's house. However before this happened Belasco was injured in a car accident on February 22, 1976. He never recovered from his wounds and died several days later. [1] [3]
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American coming-of-age romantic drama film, directed by Nicholas Ray. The film stars James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen and William Hopper. It is also the film debut of Dennis Hopper, albeit in a minor role. It was filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format. Focusing on emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers, the film offers both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments.
Salvatore Mineo Jr. was an American actor. He was best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 17, making him the fifth-youngest nominee in the category.
Louis Burt Mayer was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors, and stars in Hollywood.
Ernest Ralph Tidyman was an American author and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. His screenplay for The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award. In 1971, he also co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of Shaft with John D. F. Black.
Val Guest was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he directed 14 films, and for his science fiction films. He enjoyed a long career in the film industry from the early 1930s until the early 1980s.
Robert Cabot Sherman Jr. is an American singer and actor who was a teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He had a series of successful singles, notably the million-seller "Little Woman" (1969). Sherman left show business in the 1970s for a career as a paramedic and a deputy sheriff, but performed occasionally into the 1990s.
The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 gothic supernatural horror film directed by John Hough, and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. It follows a group of researchers who spend a week in the former home of a sadist and murderer, where previous paranormal investigators were inexplicably killed. Its screenplay was written by American author Richard Matheson, based upon his 1971 novel Hell House.
John "Jonathan" Gilmore was an American author and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction.
The Murder Man is a 1935 American crime-drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Virginia Bruce, and Lionel Atwill, and directed by Tim Whelan. The picture was Tracy's first film in what would be a twenty-year career with MGM. Tracy plays an investigative reporter who specializes in murder cases. The film is notable as the feature film debut of James Stewart. Stewart has sixth billing as a reporter named Shorty.
The Carey Treatment is a 1972 American crime thriller film directed by Blake Edwards and starring James Coburn, Jennifer O'Neill, Dan O'Herlihy and Pat Hingle. The film was based on the 1968 novel A Case of Need credited to Jeffery Hudson, a pseudonym for Michael Crichton. Like Darling Lili and Wild Rovers before this, The Carey Treatment was heavily edited without help from Edwards by the studio into a running time of one hour and 41 minutes; these edits were later satirized in his 1981 black comedy S.O.B..
Rogue Cop is a 1954 American film noir directed by Roy Rowland, based on the novel by William P. McGivern, and starring Robert Taylor, Janet Leigh, and George Raft.
Valerie Jill Haworth was an English-American actress. She appeared in films throughout the 1960s, and started making guest appearances on television in 1963. She originated the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret on Broadway in 1966.
The Phantom of Hollywood is a 1974 American made-for-television horror thriller film and starring Skye Aubrey, Jack Cassidy, Jackie Coogan, Broderick Crawford, Peter Haskell John Ireland and Peter Lawford. It is notable for being one of the last films shot on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer back lot, which was being demolished at the time of filming.
Crime in the Streets is a 1956 American crime drama film about juvenile delinquency, directed by Don Siegel and based on a television play written by Reginald Rose. The play first appeared on the Elgin Hour and was directed by Sidney Lumet.
Tonka is a 1958 American Western film directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring Sal Mineo as a Sioux who survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The film is based on the book Comanche: Story of America's Most Heroic Horse by David Appel, and depicts the fictional story of the Indian and US Cavalry owners of the titular horse.
Six Bridges to Cross or 6 Bridges to Cross is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, George Nader and Julie Adams. Six Bridges to Cross is based upon the famous 1950 Great Brink's Robbery of Boston, Massachusetts in which the thieves made off with roughly $2.5 million.
James Thomas Aubrey Jr. was an American television and film executive. As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, with his "smell for the blue-collar," he produced some of television's most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies.
Sal is a 2011 biographical film depicting the last few hours of the life of Sal Mineo, one of the first major film actors in Hollywood to publicly acknowledge their own bisexuality or homosexuality. Mineo was murdered on February 12, 1976. The film, directed by James Franco, stars Val Lauren in the title role, and is based in part on Michael Gregg Michaud's book Sal Mineo: A Biography. The film also stars Jim Parrack, James Franco and Vince Jolivette in supporting roles.
Dino is a 1957 American drama film directed by Thomas Carr, written by Reginald Rose, and starring Sal Mineo, Brian Keith and Susan Kohner. It was an adaptation of a teleplay of the same name originally broadcast in 1956 on Westinghouse Studio One. The picture was released as part of a double feature in April 1957.
Roger Garrett was an American actor. He acted on stage and played supporting roles in television series and films. He had a starring role in the West Coast production of Fortune and Men's Eyes (1969) and a starring role in the horror/thriller motion picture Night of the Cobra Woman (1972).