Jesse L. Lasky

Jesse Louis Lasky (* September 13 1880 in San Francisco, California, USA, † January 13, 1958 in Hollywood, California ) was an American film producer.

Career

He began his career in the entertainment industry at the Vaudeville. His sister Blanche married Samuel Goldwyn and 1913 he co-founded with his brother and with Cecil B. DeMille film production company Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. With small means they rented a barn and created in 1914 the film The Squaw Man, who is considered the first film of the Paramount today.

1916 united the film company with Adolph Zukors Famous Players Film Company for Famous Players - Lasky Corporation, and they built a large studio complex in Astoria near Manhattan. It was also the main shareholder of William Wadsworth Hodkinsons Paramount Pictures.

1927 Jesse L. Lasky was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With the Great Depression in the early 1930s the Famous Players - Lasky Company ran into financial difficulties. Jesse L. Lasky became a partner of Mary Pickford and they produced some years Pickford films to dissolve the business relationship. Lasky found a producers job in a large studio until 1945 he founded his own production company. His last film production comes he published his autobiography, I Blow My Own Horn from the year 1951. 1957.

Jesse L. Lasky's son Jesse Lasky, Jr. (1908-1988) was a successful (screenplay) autor.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

For his contribution to American film industry, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6433 Hollywood Blvd. Lasky Drive in Beverly Hills, California was named after him.

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