William Fox

Nacimiento : 1879-01-01, Tolcsva, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]

Muerte : 1952-05-08

Historia

Starting at the age 8 he had a series of jobs before starting his own business in 1900, which was sold to buy a Brooklyn nickelodeon in 1904. As the new owner with an empty house, Fox hired a coin manipulator and a barker to attract patrons into the dark 146-seat theatre. Once audiences adequately understood what moving pictures were, live acts were dispensed with. More nickelodeons were opened and he became a successful film exhibitor. He then won a long legal battle against Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Patent Company, ending the film trust and allowing him to start his own production company in 1913. Operations were consolidated into the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Theda Bara and Tom Mix starred in successful pictures made at the Fox Hollywood studios and the profits from them, and from the 1000 house Fox theatre chain, paid for "artistic" projects like Sunrise (1926), for awards and critical acclaim. In 1927, Fox acquired the American patent rights to the sound-on-film process developed by a Swiss firm. Fox pioneered the widescreen film with The Big Trail (1930). Poised for the future of talkies, he attempted to buy MGM just in time for 1929s stock market crash. In 1930 Fox was forced out of his company after a federal anti-trust investigation. His version is told in 1933 Upton Sinclair's book, 'Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox.' In 1936, a year after Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures merged with Fox Films, Fox bribed a judge during the liquidation of his holdings in bankruptcy proceedings. His sentence, a year in prison, began in 1941. Paroled in 1943, he was a pariah in Hollywood. Though secure from his many patent holdings, the industry for which he had been so visionary was closed to him. A virtual pariah at the time of his death, no industry representative came to eulogize at his funeral.

Películas

Murnau, Borzage and Fox
HImself (archival footage) (uncredited)
Documentary focusing on the film careers F.W. Murnau, Frank Borzage and William Fox and their impact on the history of cinema.
Silk Hat Kid
Producer
Eddie Howard, a fast-thinking, two-fisted bodyguard, is hired by nightclub-owner Tim Martin to protect him from chiseling gangsters operating an extortion-racket. But Eddie meets and falls in love with Laura Grant, Tim's sweetheart, and complications quickly arise.
Caravane
Executive Producer
Princess Wilma is forced to wed by midnight or lose her inheritance. She impulsively chooses gypsy vagabond Latzi, offering him a huge sum of money if he'll consent. Swallowing his pride, Latzi agrees to the marriage, but soon the coy Countess falls in love with young Lieutenant de Tokay, who is himself in love with Latzi's gypsy sweetheart Tinka.
Hoopla
Presenter
A hula dancer at a carnival sets out to seduce the naive son of the show's manager.
It's Great to Be Alive
Presenter
An aviator who crash landed on an island in the South Pacific returns home to find that he is the last fertile man left on Earth after an epidemic of masculitus.
Rackety Rax
Presenter
Gambler/racketeer "Knucks" McGloin takes note of just how much money and action (aside from the game itself) takes place around and about the annual Rose Bowl football game, and decides this is one sweet proposition and could be even sweeter if one had his own college and football game and had a large say beforehand as to the outcome of any game this team had. So he ups and creates his own college---Carnasie after his own neighborhood. His gangster rival. Gilatti, thinks this give McGloin a definite inside advantage and, if there is one thing a gambler can't abide, it is that someone has an inside advantage and they are not that someone. Gilatti gets himself a college football team. Education marches on.
La mujer pintada
Producer
Después de verse mezclada en un asesinato, Kiddo sube al barco de Boyton. Cuando éste se entera de lo ocurrido, la abandona en una isla de los Mares del Sur. Allí se casa con Tom, pero cuando Boyton vuelve se enfurece, porque quería casarse con ella. Cuando Boyton es asesinado, las sospechas recaen sobre Kiddo...
Society Girl
Producer
Johnny se está entrenando para el campeonato de boxeo. Judy le distrae, de modo que su manager le deja plantado. Y también Judy.
Sangre joven
Producer
Adaptación de una obra teatral de John Frederick Ballard, en la que se abordaba el tema de la delincuencia juvenil.
Conducta desordenada
Producer
Un policía de tráfico pone una multa a la hija de un político influyente, el cual consigue que le destinen a patrullar las calles a pie. Cuando descubre a la joven en el bar de un gangster durante una redada, la ayuda a escapar, y después chantajea al padre.
Quería un millonario
Producer
Jane (Joan Bennett), una muchacha pobre de Missouri, hija del ferroviario Miller (Douglas Cosgrove), quiere salir del infierno de Missouri y vivir entre riquezas y glamour. William (Spencer Tracy) está enamorado de ella, pero es un amor que no atrae a la codiciosa Jane. Como William quiere lo mejor para ella, le anima a entrar en un concurso de belleza. Jane gana el concurso y también el amor del millonario Roger Norton (James Kirkwood) con el que se va a su castillo, en Francia. Lamentablemente, Roger es un hombre terriblemente posesivo y una noche, en un ataque de locura intenta agredirla. Por suerte, él resbala y termina muerto. Jane regresa junto al hombre que realmente le ha amado.
Eran trece
Producer
En Londres, el millonario americano Louis Potter es hallado muerto, estrangulado, en su habitación de hotel. El Inspector Duff (Rafael Calvo) investiga la escena del crimen y concluye que el asesinato se produjo en otro lugar y el cadáver fue llevado ahí. Scotland Yard no tiene pistas decisivas, y no hay chance de impedir al resto de los viajeros continuar su rumbo. Así que esa misma noche el grupo zarpa para el Continente en un recorrido que los llevará por Francia, Italia, Grecia y Singapur. Duff se propone seguir al grupo en todas sus destinaciones y no hay mayores novedades entre San Remo y Hong Kong, pero al llegar a Honolulú, se reúne con su viejo amigo, Charlie Chan (Manuel Arbó), jefe de homicidios de la policía local. Chan se pone manos a la obra para continuar la investigación de su colega herido y resolver el caso.
La ley del harem
Producer
¿Conoces a tu mujer?
Producer
No tenemos sinopsis para esta película,
Hay que casar al príncipe
Producer
Spanish-language remake of Paid to Love (1927)
Esclavas de la moda
Producer
A woman owning a small dressmaker's shop decides to reopen it in Broadway in luxury at all expenses, trusting merely on the cards'premonitions. She wants her little children to pair with the richest boys. Her husband, who discouraged her, dies and the business soon takes flight.
Annabelle's Affairs
Executive Producer
After only 11 hours of marriage, Annabelle and her husband separate-not knowing what each other truly looks like. Annabelle is given stocks by her husband and told not to part with them. However she is an extravagant spender and is forced to give the stocks to her husband's millionaire rival.....
Six Cylinder Love
Producer
Los Sterling empiezan a encadenar problemas cuando compran un coche caro. . Los amigos se apuntan a paseos, ella sufre un accidente, y él ha de pedir 5.000 dólares a su jefe para pagar olos gastos.. Por fin, vende el coche al conserje,
Quick Millions
Producer
El conductor de camiones Bugs Raymond organiza a las asociaciones de camioneros y se hace con dinero a cambio de protección. Una vez enriquecido, decide casarse con la dama de la alta sociedad Dorothy Stone. Ella le rechaza, en favor de otro hombre, así que él planea secuestrarla el día de su boda.
The Big Trail
Producer
A large caravan of settlers attempt to cross the Oregon Trail..
Oh, for a Man!
Executive Producer
Disenchanted opera star Carlotta Manson falls for ruffian cat burglar Barney McGann and gives up her career to marry him. But Barney grows disenchanted himself at being known as the husband of a diva and itches to get back to his life of crime and manliness.
Río arriba
Producer
Dos prisioneros se escapan de la cárcel para ayudar a una pareja que, tras cumplir su condena, se instaló en una pequeña localidad para que nadie conociera su oscuro pasado. Ahora la pareja ve amenazada su felicidad por un deshonesto vendedor que quiere implicar al hombre en sus fraudulentas actividades.
Common Clay
Executive Producer
Young Ellen Neal gets work as a servant with the wealthy Fullerton family. She falls in love with the Fullerton's handsome young son. But he leaves her with child, and when she attempts to gain recognition for her child, the Fullerton family treats her as a blackmailer. But a surprise awaits them all.
High Society Blues
Producer
After selling his business in Iowa, Eli Granger and his family move to an exclusive Scarsdale area in New York, where by chance he occupies a house adjacent to Horace Divine, a wealthy businessman with whom he made his business transaction...
Such Men Are Dangerous
Presenter
A wealthy and powerful industrialist changes his identity to avenge himself on the wife that spurned him on their wedding night.
City Girl
Producer
Primer film sonoro de Murnau (y último de ficción). Durante su producción y rodaje (en tierras americanas, donde había realizado ya la obra maestra "Sunrise"), surgieron importantes divergencias del director alemán con el dueño de la Fox, William Fox. La más importante fue la imposición de ser un film hablado (Murnau comenzó la película siendo muda), dado el fulgurante éxito del cine sonoro, así como la incapacidad del estudio por conseguir a la estrella Janet Gaynor (protagonista de "Amanecer"). Murnau, desencantado, decidió una vez acabada la película asociarse con el documentalista Robert J. Flaherty, para rodar "Tabu" sin ningún tipo de imposición de los estudios. "El pan nuestro de cada día" está basada en la obra "The Mad Turtle", de Elliott Lester, y narra la historia de un joven de Minnesota que va a Chicago y se enamora.
The River
Producer
Passion carried an innocent boy and a worldly woman beyond the barriers of conscience.
They Had to See Paris
Executive Producer
Oklahoma mechanic Pike Peters finds himself part owner of an oil field. His wife Idy, hitherto content, decides the family must go to Paris to get "culture" and meet "the right kind of people." Pike and his grown son and daughter soon have flirtatious French admirers; Idy rents a chateau from an impoverished aristocrat; while Pike responds to each new development with homespun wit. In the inevitable clash, will pretentiousness and sophistication or common sense triumph?
Happy Days
Producer
Margie, singer on a showboat, decides to try her luck in New York inspite of being in love with the owners grandson. She is successful, but suddenly she hears that the showboat is in deep financial trouble, and she calls all the boats former stars to join in a big show to rescue it.
Estrellas dichosas
Producer
Mary Tucker, una desaliñada campesina que vive en la miseria, conoce a Martin y a Tim, dos jóvenes que trabajan en un equipo de instalación de líneas eléctricas. Cuando, en 1917, los Estados Unidos entran en la Primera Guerra Mundial, Martin y Tim son enviados al frente. En las trincheras reciben una carta de Mary, ante la que reaccionan de manera muy distinta: Tim se siente conmovido por la generosidad de la chica, en cambio, Martin se burla de ella. Cuando Tim regresa, Mary empieza a frecuentar su casa.
The Valiant
Presenter
A man condemned to execution tries to convince two women that he is not their son and brother, and that they must get on with their lives.
Viva la ambición
Presenter
Strong Boy es un reputado cargador de equipajes, por lo que pronto será ascendido de puesto. Está enamorado de Joy, una bella chica, que a pesar de su buen hacer en el trabajo no consigue alcanzar el puesto que ella desea.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Producer
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes, talks about his fictional detective, the real-life professor who inspired him, and his own belief in the supernatural.
Romance of the Underworld
Presenter
When a gangster's speakeasy is raided by the police, one of the people picked up is the gangster's pretty young girlfriend. A kind-hearted cop takes pity on her and helps her get out of that life. While waitressing to earn money for college, she meets a wealthy and handsome young man and they fall in love--but he doesn't know about her somewhat shady past and her relationship with the gangster.
Fazil
Producer
An Arab prince born and raised in the desert and a beautiful Frenchwoman from Paris fall in love and marry, but the tremendous differences in their backgrounds and the cultural differences between their two different societies put strains on their marriage that may well prove irreparable.
El ángel de la calle
Producer
Angela es una humilde muchacha que está a punto de ser detenida por la policía, pero logra esconderse en un circo ambulante. En este ambiente conoce todo tipo de personajes bohemios y extravagantes. Entre ellos está Gino, un joven pintor que la toma como modelo para pintar una Madonna
Una chica en cada puerto
Producer
Dos marineros que se hacen amigos viajan por todo el mundo en busca de aventuras y mujeres.
Ladies Must Dress
Presenter
Joe and Eve are engaged, but Joe cannot help contrasting the drabness of her attire with the dressy clothes of their friends. Eve overhears him talking of this and breaks with him. Then, with the help of her friend, Mazie, she metamorphoses into a ravishing beauty. Joe is remorseful, but the situation is made more complex when he suspects Eve of questionable relations with her boss.
Amanecer
Producer
Un granjero convive felizmente en el campo con su esposa. Pero la aparición de una seductora mujer de la ciudad hace que comience a enamorarse de ésta, y a pensar que su mujer es un estorbo que se interpone en la felicidad entre él y su nueva y sofisticada amante.
East Side, West Side
Producer
Director Allan Dwan’s excellent use of New York locations enlivens a rags-to-riches tale that fully exploits star George O’Brien’s championship boxing prowess.
El séptimo cielo
Producer
Chico (Charles Farrell) es un joven que trabaja en la limpieza de las alcantarillas de Paris. Diane es una chica muy desgraciada que es víctima de los abusos de su atrabiliaria hermana mayor. Un día, mientras ésta la golpea, Chico la rescata y se la lleva a vivir con él a su buhardilla, en el séptimo piso de un edificio de Montmartre.
The Loves of Carmen
Presenter
The Loves of Carmen is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film directed by Raoul Walsh. The film, based on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée, stars Dolores del Río in the title role, and Don Alvarado as Jose.
Tumbling River
Presenter
Tom heroically saves rancher's daughter Dorothy Dwan from both a raging river and a gang of cattle rustlers led by popular western villain Wallace McDonald.
The Cradle Snatchers
Writer
To cure their flirtatious husbands of consorting with flappers, three wives -Susan Martin, Ethel Drake, and Kitty Ladd- arrange with three college boys -Henry Winton, Oscar, and Joe Valley- to flirt with them at a house party. Joe Valley, who poses as a hot-blooded Spaniard, is vamped by Ginsberg in female attire, and Oscar, a bashful Swede, uses caveman methods when aroused. During a rehearsal of the party, the three husbands arrive, followed by their flapper friends, leading to comic complications that are resolved
Ser o no ser
Producer
"Upstream" es una comedia ligera puesta en el ambiente teatral que muestra a la gente en los peldaños más bajos del entretenimiento. Centrada en un triángulo amoroso.
Fig Leaves
Presenter
Adam, a plumber, is happily married to Eve, a wardrobe-obsessed housewife, until she accidentally meets a supercilious fashion designer. At the prompting of her neighbor, who has secret designs on Adam, Eve secretly becomes a fashion model by day, knowing that her husband would disapprove.
Corazón intrépido
Presenter
Esta película es la historia de un niño y una niña de un pueblo pequeño. El héroe, Denny Bolton, golpea al matón de la ciudad solo para encontrarse con él más tarde en el ring de boxeo en la ciudad de Nueva York. La ambición lo ha llevado a Broadway, pero la búsqueda del amor lo devuelve a la calle principal de su ciudad natal.
Flames of Desire
Presenter
The drama of a girl who knew beauty's power.
Gold Heels
Presenter
A man tries to woo a woman, rescue an orphanage, and bet on the right horse.
Corazones de roble
Presenter
Terry Dunniva, un capitán de marina retirado que vive en Marblehead, Massachusetts, adopta a dos niños, Chrystal y Ned. A medida que la niña se convierte en mujer, Terry se da cuenta de que su amor paternal se ha convertido en algo más fuerte. Él le pide que se convierta en su esposa, pero Chrystal está enamorada de su hermano adoptivo, Ned.
The Shadow of the East
Presenter
Barry Craven meets former sweetheart Gillian Locke, who is visiting India with her father. Craven's love for Gillian is revived, but he already has a wife, Lolaire, a native. In a jealous rage, Lolaire kills herself, freeing Craven, who returns to England and marries Gillian. His Indian servant, Kunwar Singh, casts a spell on Craven, causing him to leave Gillian and to go into the Algerian desert. There he joins Said, an old university friend who is the son of an Algerian sheik. Gillian follows, the servant is killed, and with him dies the spell, "The Shadow of the East."
Hoodman Blind
Presenter
It is a remake of a 1913 film of the same name directed by James Gordon and a 1916 William Farnum Fox feature titled A Man of Sorrow and based on the play Hoodman Blind.
Unreal News Reel
Executive Producer
A compilation of archive footage from previously filmed Fox comedies.
Jungle Pals
Executive Producer
If Winter Comes
Producer
Mark Sabre hires young Effie Bright to keep his snobbish, cold-hearted wife Mabel company while he goes off to war. When he returns home from the front wounded, he finds that Mabel has fired Effie, who shows up at Mark's door with her baby, having no place to go. Mark takes her in, but Mabel leaves him when the town shuns him for what they believe is going on with Mark and Effie. Matters are further complicated when Effie, driven to desperation, commits an unspeakable act that results in Mark having a nervous breakdown--and then things get worse.
Step Lively, Please
Executive Producer
Step Lively, Please is a 1922 silent comedy
Monte Cristo
Producer
A film adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The Abbe tells Edmond of a fantastic treasure hidden away on a tiny island, that only he knows the location of...
La señorita sonrisas
Presenter
La familia judía Aaronson vive en barrios humildes en el gueto de una gran ciudad. Esther difunde el sol con sus sonrisas y, cuando su madre queda ciega y es llevada al hospital, asume las funciones de cabeza de familia.
Juanita
Presenter
Jacqueline, la hija huérfana de un famoso bailarín ruso, ha sido criada por una mujer francesa que dirige una escuela de baile barata.
Juanita
Producer
Jacqueline, la hija huérfana de un famoso bailarín ruso, ha sido criada por una mujer francesa que dirige una escuela de baile barata.
His Noisy Still
Executive Producer
If you can't buy it... make your own! A Fox silent short subject comedy.
Buenos amigos
Producer
En un viejo pueblo americano, conviven el vago del pueblo, al que todos llaman Bim, y un niño huérfano y vagabundo, estableciéndose entre ellos una relación paternofilial. Bim está enamorado de una joven cuya vida en sociedad nada tiene que ver con el vagabundeo, y un día decide ayudarla con una cantidad de dinero desaparecida, algo que acarreará graves consecuencias.
Salome
Producer
Palestine, under the rule of Rome. Salome, daughter of Herodias and both niece and stepdaughter of King Herod, becomes infatuated with the prophet John the Baptist, who publicly denounces the depravity of the royal family and proclaims the arrival of a new messiah. (Film presumed lost.)
Cleopatra
Producer
The story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony. (IMDb) Only a fragment of this film is known to still exist.
The Honor System
Producer
A potentially lost film, this film tells the story of a man is convicted unjustly of a crime and then subjected to inhumane torment in a prison run by corrupt administrators.
A Daughter of the Gods
Producer
A sultan agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.
East Lynne
Producer
An adaptation of the 1861 novel by English author Ellen Wood: The story of long-suffering Lady Isabel Carlisle cast in a modern setting.
The Eternal Sapho
Producer
A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.
Anna Karenina
Producer
Anna Karenina is a married aristocrat and socialite living in Saint Petersburg. She is living a torrid romance with a wealthy and young count, he loves her and is willing to marry her once she leave her husband.
A Fool There Was
Producer
John Schuyler, un abogado felizmente casado, es nombrado diplomático y enviado a Inglaterra; pero, debido a un desafortunado accidente, su esposa y su hijo no pueden acompañarlo. Luego, en la nave, se encuentra con el vampiro, una mujer notoria, una implacable buscadora de oro, que vive de hombres a quienes seduce y arruina.