About

Known credits:
131
Birthday:
1879-01-01
Place of birth:
Tolcsva, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
Website:
N/A

William Fox

Overview

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.

Known for

Acting
2008 Murnau, Borzage and Fox Actor Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 59
Average

Writing
1927 Cradle Snatchers Writing Writer 58
Average

Production
1935 Silk Hat Kid Production Producer 59
Average
1934 Caravane Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1932 The Painted Woman Production Producer N/A
N/A
1932 Society Girl Production Producer 58
Average
1932 Young America Production Producer 58
Average
1932 Disorderly Conduct Production Producer N/A
N/A
1932 She Wanted a Millionaire Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 There Were Thirteen Production Producer 59
Average
1931 Law of the Harem Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 Do You Know Your Wife? Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 You Have to Marry the Prince Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 Slaves of Fashion Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 Annabelle's Affairs Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1931 Six Cylinder Love Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 The Spy Production Producer N/A
N/A
1931 Quick Millions Production Producer 59
Average
1931 The Big Trail Production Producer N/A
N/A
1930 Oh, for a Man! Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1930 Up the River Production Producer 58
Average
1930 Common Clay Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1930 High Society Blues Production Producer N/A
N/A
1930 City Girl Production Producer 61
Fair
1929 The River Production Producer 59
Average
1929 They Had to See Paris Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1929 Happy Days Production Producer 59
Average
1929 Lucky Star Production Producer 60
Fair
1929 The Far Call Production Producer N/A
N/A
1929 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Production Producer N/A
N/A
1928 Mother Knows Best Production Producer N/A
N/A
1928 Fazil Production Producer 58
Average
1928 Street Angel Production Producer 60
Fair
1928 A Girl in Every Port Production Producer 59
Average
1927 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans Production Producer 70
Good
1927 East Side, West Side Production Producer 59
Average
1927 7th Heaven Production Producer 61
Fair
1927 Is Zat So? Production Producer N/A
N/A
1927 Upstream Production Producer 58
Average
1926 More Pay - Less Work Production Producer N/A
N/A
1924 A Man's Mate Production Producer N/A
N/A
1923 Gentle Julia Production Producer N/A
N/A
1923 Unreal News Reel Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1923 Jungle Pals Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1923 If Winter Comes Production Producer N/A
N/A
1923 The Face on the Barroom Floor Production Producer 59
Average
1922 Who Are My Parents? Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1922 Step Lively, Please Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1922 Monte Cristo Production Producer 59
Average
1922 Honor First Production Producer N/A
N/A
1922 A Self-Made Man Production Producer N/A
N/A
1921 Jackie Production Producer 58
Average
1921 Big Town Ideas Production Producer N/A
N/A
1920 His Noisy Still Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1920 Just Pals Production Producer 59
Average
1919 Cowardice Court Production Producer N/A
N/A
1918 Salome Production Producer 59
Average
1918 The Woman and the Law Production Producer N/A
N/A
1917 Cleopatra Production Producer 58
Average
1917 The Honor System Production Producer N/A
N/A
1917 The Darling of Paris Production Producer N/A
N/A
1916 A Daughter of the Gods Production Producer 58
Average
1916 East Lynne Production Producer 58
Average
1916 The Eternal Sapho Production Producer N/A
N/A
1915 The Galley Slave Production Producer N/A
N/A
1915 Anna Karenina Production Producer 58
Average
1915 A Fool There Was Production Producer 58
Average
The Tiger's Cub Production Producer N/A
N/A

Sound
1941 South of Tahiti Sound Sound Technical Supervisor 59
Average

Crew
1934 David Harum Crew Presenter 58
Average
1933 Hoopla Crew Presenter 59
Average
1933 It's Great to Be Alive Crew Presenter 58
Average
1932 Wild Girl Crew Presenter 59
Average
1932 Rackety Rax Crew Presenter 58
Average
1930 Rough Romance Crew Presenter 58
Average
1930 Such Men Are Dangerous Crew Presenter 58
Average
1930 The Big Party Crew Presenter 58
Average
1929 Not Quite Decent Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1929 The Black Watch Crew Presenter 58
Average
1929 The Valiant Crew Presenter 58
Average
1929 Strong Boy Crew Presenter 58
Average
1928 Romance of the Underworld Crew Presenter 59
Average
1928 Fleetwing Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1928 The Play Girl Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1927 Ladies Must Dress Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1927 The Gay Retreat Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1927 Two Girls Wanted Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1927 The Loves of Carmen Crew Presenter 58
Average
1927 Tumbling River Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1926 Fig Leaves Crew Presenter 58
Average
1925 The Fighting Heart Crew Presenter 58
Average
1925 The Iron Horse Crew Presenter 59
Average
1925 Wings of Youth Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1924 Gold Heels Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1924 Flames of Desire Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1924 Daughters of the Night Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1924 Hearts of Oak Crew Presenter 58
Average
1924 Love Letters Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1924 The Shadow of the East Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1923 Hoodman Blind Crew Presenter 58
Average
1923 Does It Pay? Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1923 The Gunfighter Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1923 The Silent Command Crew Presenter 58
Average
1923 Snowdrift Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 Pawn Ticket 210 Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 Shirley of the Circus Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 Honor First Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 A Self-Made Man Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 Without Fear Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 A Stage Romance Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1922 Little Miss Smiles Crew Presenter 58
Average
1921 Jackie Crew Presenter 58
Average
1921 Perjury Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1921 His Greatest Sacrifice Crew Presenter 58
Average
1921 Know Your Men Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1920 Singing River Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1920 The Face at Your Window Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1920 The Strongest Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1918 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1918 Why I Would Not Marry Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1918 The Queen of Hearts Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1918 The Woman and the Law Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 The Galley Slave Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 The Wonderful Adventure Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 The Song of Hate Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 Should a Mother Tell Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 A Woman's Resurrection Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 From the Valley of the Missing Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
1915 Kreutzer Sonata Crew Presenter 58
Average
1914 Regeneration Crew Presenter N/A
N/A
The Tiger's Cub Crew Presenter N/A
N/A