James Hill (film producer)

James Hill ( born August 1, 1916 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, † January 11, 2001 in Santa Monica, California ) was an American screenwriter and film producer, who founded the production company Hecht -Hill - Lancaster with Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster.

Life

James Hill was born in 1916 as son of a lawyer in Jeffersonville, Indiana. After attending the University of Washington, he began his professional career as an errand boy at the NBC radio in New York, where he worked as a scriptwriter soon. In 1947 he wrote and produced the radio series Beulah, in the Hattie McDaniel took over the lead role. He then went to Hollywood, where he was taken as a writer of MGM under contract.

His collaboration with Burt Lancaster and Harold Hecht former agents began in 1954, when they filmed a script by Hill under the title White ruler of Tonga (His Majesty O'Keefe, 1954). After Hecht and Lancaster had signed with United Artists a contract that granted them full control over their film projects, they asked Hill if he wanted to join them. Hill subsequently went for the Western Vera Cruz ( 1954) for the first time as a movie producer in appearance. Lancaster and Gary Cooper played the leading roles, while Robert Aldrich directed the film. Although the reviews complained the cynically humorous illustration of greed and immorality, Veracruz nevertheless became a huge success at the box office and is now considered a precursor to the spaghetti Westerns. Hills next production, Carol Reed's circus drama Trapeze ( Trapeze, 1956), was an even bigger hit in the Lancaster again next Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida played the lead role. Meanwhile, Hill was officially to the newly formed production company, Hecht -Hill - Lancaster, the 1957 could post their artistic greatest triumph with your fate in my hand (Sweet Smell of Success ). The film received very positive reviews, proved at the box office but a flop.

Is Silent, Run Deep (Run Silent, Run Deep, 1958) for a commercially oriented submarine adventure where Lancaster, directed by Robert Wise on the side of Clark Gable to see - Next project, the producers trio decided with U 23. It was followed by a film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's stage play Separate Tables, which successfully both in London and in New York was in the theaters. Lancaster secured the film rights and wanted Laurence Olivier as a director for the project under the title away from bed and board ( Separate Tables, 1958 ) undertake. Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh should also play two of the lead roles, but when Lancaster another major role that would occupy Olivier with Spencer Tracy, claimed for himself, came the break and both Olivier and Leigh left the project. James Hill then proposed for Rita Hayworth before Leigh's role.

Hill and Hayworth had been at a New Year's party of a mutual friend, the makeup man Robert Schiffer, met. Hill was in Hollywood for years as a bachelor known Hayworth had allowed himself, however, in 1955, divorced her fourth husband, singer Dick Haymes. Hill and Hayworth met regularly from now on and became effective on February 2, 1958 before the altar. With the role of Ann Shankland in Separated from bed and hoped Hill to establish Hayworth as a serious actress. The film received numerous awards, including two Oscars for David Niven and Wendy Hiller. However, the marriage of Hill and Hayworth was under an unlucky star. Hayworth showed first symptoms of Alzheimer 's disease and had as Hill increasingly alcohol problems. The productions of Hecht -Hill - Lancaster were increasingly marked by failures. The co-produced Western To those you does not forgive ( The Unforgiven, 1960 ), in which Audrey Hepburn is generally considered a squaw besides Lancaster as miscast, itself was not liked by his director John Huston. The final collaboration by Hecht, Hill and Lancaster for John Frankenheimer's film drama Birdman of Alcatraz ( Birdman of Alcatraz, 1962), whose story is based on true events about the ornithologist Robert Stroud, was a final success.

In 1962 Hill along with Hayworth the company Hillworth Productions, with which they next together Hayworth movie, the caper comedy Rendezvous in Madrid ( The Happy Thieves, 1962), produced. Besides Hayworth Rex Harrison took over the male lead. However, the film proved both by critics and the public alike as a failure. Shortly after the filming was completed, Hill and Hayworth were divorced on 7 September 1961. 1983 Hill devoted his ex-wife a book titled Rita Hayworth: A Memoir. In it, he remembers their time together and describes the reasons for their separation. According to him, he had Hayworth pushed too much to continue their careers while they wanted to retire from show business to paint. Hayworth died in 1987 at the consequences of Alzheimer's disease. Hill fell ill later also to Alzheimer's and died in 2001 at the age of 84 years in Santa Monica.

Filmography (selection)

Production

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