Pandro S. Berman

An accomplished film producer and studio executive, Pandro S. Berman rose through the ranks to become RKO Pictures' resident boy wonder in the 1930s until setting up shop at MGM for the next 25 years. Throughout his career, Berman's films earned six Academy Award nominations for Best Picture while he juiced the stardom of Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, Stewart Granger, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. Notable during his time at RKO were the Hepburn vehicle "Morning Glory" (1933), an adaptation of "Of Human Bondage" (1934), and the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals "Top Hat" (1935) and "Swing Time" (1936). After his guidance of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), he left RKO for MGM to produce the lavish "Ziegfeld Girl" (1941) while steering a young Taylor in her breakthrough film, "National Velvet" (1944). Berman had further success with "The Three Musketeers" (1948), "Father of the Bride" (1950), "Ivanhoe" (1952) and "Knights of the Round Table" (1953) before tapping into the youth market with "The Blackboard Jungle" (1955) and "Jailhouse Rock" (1957). After producing "Butterfield 8" (1960), which earned Taylor her first Oscar for Best Actress, Berman struggled to hang on while the old studio system fell upon hard time in the early 1960s. He left MGM in the mid-decade and ventured into independent producing until retiring in 1970, leaving behind an impressive career where he oversaw the making of over 100 films - many of which were of high quality and craftsmanship - during Hollywood's Golden Age.