Biography
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.
Filmography
all 104
Movies 104
Producer 78
self 1
Writer 1
Murnau, Borzage and Fox (2008)
South of Tahiti (1941)
Silk Hat Kid (1935)
Caravane (1934)
La Cruz y la Espada (1934)
Hoopla (1933)
Shanghai Madness (1933)
It's Great to Be Alive (1933)
Wild Girl (1932)
Rackety Rax (1932)
The Painted Woman (1932)
Society Girl (1932)
Young America (1932)
Disorderly Conduct (1932)
She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)
There Were Thirteen (1931)
Law of the Harem (1931)
Do You Know Your Wife? (1931)
You have to marry the prince (1931)
Slaves of Fashion (1931)
Annabelle's Affairs (1931)
Six Cylinder Love (1931)
Quick Millions (1931)
The Big Trail (1931)
Oh, for a Man! (1930)
Up the River (1930)
Common Clay (1930)
High Society Blues (1930)
Such Men Are Dangerous (1930)
City Girl (1930)
The River (1929)
They Had to See Paris (1929)
Happy Days (1929)
Lucky Star (1929)
The Black Watch (1929)
The Valiant (1929)
The Far Call (1929)
Strong Boy (1929)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1929)
Romance of the Underworld (1928)
Fazil (1928)
Street Angel (1928)
A Girl in Every Port (1928)
Ladies Must Dress (1927)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
East Side, West Side (1927)
7th Heaven (1927)
The Loves of Carmen (1927)
Tumbling River (1927)
Cradle Snatchers (1927)
Is Zat So? (1927)
Upstream (1927)
The City (1926)
Fig Leaves (1926)
A Bankrupt Honeymoon (1926)
The Fighting Heart (1925)
Gold Heels (1924)
Flames of Desire (1924)
Hearts of Oak (1924)
Love Letters (1924)
The Shadow of the East (1924)
Hoodman Blind (1923)
Unreal News Reel (1923)
Jungle Pals (1923)
The Eleventh Hour (1923)
If Winter Comes (1923)
The Face on the Barroom Floor (1923)
Out of Place (1922)
Step Lively, Please (1922)
Monte Cristo (1922)
All Wet (1922)
Moonshine Valley (1922)
Special Delivery (1922)
A Studio Rube (1922)
Little Miss Smiles (1922)
Jackie (1921)
Footfalls (1921)
The Guide (1921)
The Queen of Sheba (1921)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921)
Blind Wives (1920)
His Noisy Still (1920)
Just Pals (1920)
The Strongest (1920)
Checkers (1919)
Kultur (1918)
Salome (1918)
The Woman and the Law (1918)
Les Misérables (1917)
Cleopatra (1917)
Six Cylinder Love (1917)
The Tiger Woman (1917)
The Honor System (1917)
The Darling of Paris (1917)
The Mischief Maker (1916)
Romeo and Juliet (1916)
A Daughter of the Gods (1916)
East Lynne (1916)
The Eternal Sapho (1916)
The Serpent (1916)
The Galley Slave (1915)
Anna Karenina (1915)
A Fool There Was (1915)
Not Quite Decent
Ratings
Information
Known ForProduction
GenderMale
Birthday1879-01-01
Deathday1952-05-08 (73 years old)
Birth PlaceTolcsva, Hungary
CitizenshipsKingdom of Hungary, United States of America
Also Known AsW. M. Fox, Wm. Fox
Awardsstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
- William Fox
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