John M. Stahl

John M. Stahl

Still from theSowing the Wind with film producers William Nicholas Selig and Louis B. Mayer and director John M. Stahl examine the film from one "take"
Born Jacob Morris Strelitsky
January 21, 1886
Baku Azerbaijan
Died January 12, 1950(1950-01-12) (aged 63)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cause of death heart attack
Nationality United States
Occupation Film director and producer

John Malcolm Stahl (January 21, 1886 – January 12, 1950) was an American film director and producer.

Life and work

He was born Jacob Morris Strelitsky in Baku (Azerbaijan) to an eastern European Jewish family.[1][2] When he was a child, his family left the Russian Empire and moved to the United States, settling in New York City. At a young age, Strelitsky began working in the city's growing motion picture industry and directed his first silent film short in 1914.

He took the name John Malcolm Stahl and in the early 1920s, signed on with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in Hollywood. In 1924 he was part of the Mayer team that founded MGM Studios. In 1927, Stahl was one of the thirty-six founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With the industry's transition to talkies and feature-length films, Stahl successfully made the adjustment. From 1927 through 1930 Stahl was an executive at the short-lived independent studio Tiffany Pictures, and renamed the company "Tiffany-Stahl Productions".

For Universal Pictures, he directed the 1934 film Imitation of Life, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The following year, he directed Magnificent Obsession, starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor.

John Stahl continued to produce and direct major productions as well as filler shorts up to the time of his death. Some of his other notable directorial work was for The Keys of the Kingdom in 1944 and the 1945 film noir, Leave Her to Heaven starring Gene Tierney, who was nominated for Best Actress.

Stahl died in Hollywood in 1950 of a heart attack, aged 63. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[3]

On February 8, 1960, for his contributions to the motion pictures industry, Stahl received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6546 Hollywood Boulevard.[4][5]

Partial filmography

Ad with Mollie King in the film Women Men Forget (1920).

References

  1. ↑ "Actualité de la cinephilie. Le mélodrame strict de John M. Stahl. Saint-Sébastien rend hommage à un maître oublié.". Libération. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  2. ↑ Erens, Patricia (August 1988). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20493-6.
  3. ↑ "John Malcolm Stahl (1886 - 1950) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  4. ↑ "John M. Stahl | Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  5. ↑ "John Stahl". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
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