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Louis B. Mayer

Personal Profile

Louis B. Mayer
  • Birth Name:
    Louis Burt Mayer
  • Date of Birth:
    July 4, 1884
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Cancer
  • Place of Birth:
    Minsk, Belarus
  • Place of Death:
    Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Date of Death:
    October 29, 1957
  • Cause of Death:
    Leukemia
  • Height:
    5' 3"
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American

Family

Louis B. Mayer
  • Brother:
    J.G. Mayer

Career

Louis B. Mayer

Trivia

Louis B. Mayer
  • He hugged Taylor, cried a little and walked him to the door.
  • He was a master manipulator, and it was generally acknowledged that of all the great actors on the lot - the Barrymores, Spencer Tracy, Lon Chaney, Greta Garbo - Mayer was the best.
  • Salary as head of MGM in 1937, $1,300,000.
  • Sidney Skolsky wrote that the joke on the MGM lot was that "L.B." Mayer stood for "Lionel Barrymore" Mayer because he was the "best actor" on the lot in things he did to persuade people, including melodramatically fainting and crying.
  • Continue north and you'll pass through the 206 sq km Fundy National Park, and then you can go on to the scenic Hopewell Rocks, one of the best places to view the phenomenal tides.
  • The Bay is known for the highest tides in the world. Whale watching, sea kayaking, boat tours and bird watching are all popular visitor attractions along the Fundy coast.
  • The city of Saint John sits half-way up the New Brunswick coast of the Bay of Fundy, a basin of water that stretches for 270 km (170 miles) between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Quotes

Louis B. Mayer
  • "Of the many artists who help to make up the finished film none is more important than the director. He can always improve a story... He is largely responsible for the acting of his cast and there are hundreds of little details of picture making that are entirely within his hands."
  • "When a picture is screened it is largely a reflection of the mind that directed it. If it is a failure the cause of that failure can often be traced directly to the man with the megaphone. I will also state that many screen successes are almost entirely due to directorial ability."
  • "The sign of a clever auteur is to achieve the illusion that there is a sole individual responsible for magnificent creations that require thousands of people to accomplish."
  • "Be smart, but never show it."
  • "I want to make beautiful pictures about beautiful people."
View all Quotes: Louis B. Mayer

Biography

Louis B. Mayer
Last Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009

Louis B Mayer, film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was born in 1884 in Minsk, Russia and moved with his family to Saint John, New Brunswick when he was just a young child. His father, who is said to have been abusive, had a scrap metal business and forced Louis as a boy to retrieve metal from sunken vessels.

He moved to Boston in his late teens and set up his own junk business, then purchased and fixed up his first movie theatre in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He continued on buying theatres until he owned New England's largest chain, then went on to film distribution and finally movie production. At one point he was the highest earning person in the United States. His parents are buried in the Shaarie Zedek Cemetery in Saint John, which is part of the Fernhill Cemetery on Westmorland Road.

Over the next 25 years, MGM was "the Tiffany of the studios," producing more films and movie stars than any other studio in the world. Mayer became the prime creator of the enduring Hollywood of myth, home to stars like Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, and Jean Harlow. Mayer became the highest-paid man in America, one of the country's most successful horse breeders, a political force and Hollywood's leading spokesman. Both he and MGM reached their peaks at the end of World War II, and Mayer was forced out in 1951. He died of leukemia in 1957.

Filmography

Louis B. Mayer

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