Buddy Adler - Turner Classic Movies

Buddy Adler

Producer

About

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Also Known As

E Maurice Adler

Birth Place

New York City, New York, USA

Born

June 22, 1909

Died

July 12, 1960

Cause of Death

Cancer

Biography

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A production chief at 20th Century Fox from 1956 until his death, Buddy Adler began his career writing ad copy for his father's elevator-shoe company. After penning several short stories, he moved from shoe business to show business when MGM signed him to a writing contract. During his tenure at that studio in the 1930s and 40s, Adler scripted several short films. After military service ...

Filmography

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The Big Show (1957)

The Young Lions (1958)

Executive Producer

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

South Pacific (1958)

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

A Hatful of Rain (1957)

Photos & Videos

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The Harlem Globetrotters (1950) — (Movie Clip) We’ve Got A College Man

The Harlem Globetrotters (1950) — (Movie Clip) Open, Start The Music

Family & Companions

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Anita Louise

Wife

Actor. Married from 1940 until his death.

Notes

He was awarded the Legion of Merit.

Biography

A production chief at 20th Century Fox from 1956 until his death, Buddy Adler began his career writing ad copy for his father's elevator-shoe company. After penning several short stories, he moved from shoe business to show business when MGM signed him to a writing contract. During his tenure at that studio in the 1930s and 40s, Adler scripted several short films. After military service in the US Signal Corps, he returned to Hollywood and became a producer at Columbia where he oversaw such diverse projects as the film noir "The Dark Past" (1948), Margaret Sullavan's last vehicle "No Sad Songs for Me" (1950) and 1953's Oscar-winning Best Picture "From Here To Eternity." Although most of the films he subsequently produced were solid commercial hits such as "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" (1955) "Anastasia" (1956) and "South Pacific" (1958), he was also responsible for the hard-hitting drug melodrama "A Hatful of Rain" (1957). At his untimely death from cancer at age 54 in 1960, Adler was assisting in the preparations for "Cleopatra" (1963).

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

The Big Show (1957)

Producer (Feature Film)

The Young Lions (1958)

Executive Producer

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

South Pacific (1958)

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

A Hatful of Rain (1957)

The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956)

The Bottom of the Bottle (1956)

The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956)

Anastasia (1956)

Bus Stop (1956)

The Left Hand of God (1955)

House of Bamboo (1955)

Violent Saturday (1955)

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Soldier of Fortune (1955)

Last of the Comanches (1953)

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Saturday's Hero (1951)

The Harlem Globetrotters (1951)

A Woman of Distinction (1950)

No Sad Songs for Me (1950)

Tell It to the Judge (1949)

The Dark Past (1949)

Writer (Short)

INFLATION (1943)

VICTORY QUIZ (1942)

How to Hold Your Husband - Back (1941)

Quicker'n a Wink (1940)

Radio Hams (1939)

Life Events

1928

Wrote ads for father's elevator-shoe business; became an executive with Adler Stores; later wrote short stories for magazines

1935

Hired as short subject writer at MGM

1948

First producing credit, the film noir "The Dark Past"

1953

Produced the Oscar-winning "From Here to Eternity"

1954

Joined 20th Century Fox

1956

Named head of production at 20th Century Fox

1956

Produced "Bus Stop", starring Marilyn Monroe and "Anastasia" with Ingrid Bergman in her Oscar-winning role

1960

Died while preparing film, "Cleopatra"

Videos

The Harlem Globetrotters (1950) — (Movie Clip) We’ve Got A College Man Catching up with Coach Abe Saperstein (Thomas Gomez) and the team after wrapping up his college affairs, new recruit Billy (pro-basketball player Billy Brown) gets introduced to the real-life stars, and a practice exhibition, directed by MGM shorts specialist Will Jason, in The Harlem Globetrotters, 1951.

The Harlem Globetrotters (1950) — (Movie Clip) Open, Start The Music A little schtick about life on the road, Thomas Gomez as the team founder and coach Abe Saperstein with the real Harlem Globetrotters, a nod to their genuine barnstorming occupation, greeted by Al Eben, then performing to the “Sweet Georgia Brown” theme, in The Harlem Globetrotters, 1951, from Columbia and producer Buddy Adler.

The Harlem Globetrotters (1950) — (Movie Clip) What’s All The Fuss About College hoop star Billy (played by Billy Brown, a non-actor basketball pro at the time) tells his girlfriend Ann (Dorothy Dandridge, second-billed after Thomas Gomez, who pays the team founder Abe Saperstein, in her first speaking appearance) that he’s leaving to join the barnstorming title-team, in The Harlem Globetrotters, 1951.

House Of Bamboo (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Why Cover For Them? The tail end of the opening with the murder of an American non-comm in a Japanese train robbery, Brad Dexter as American MP Hanson interrogates civilian crook Webber (Biff Elliot) during surgery, which was surely the whole point for director Samuel Fuller, early in House Of Bamboo, 1955, Shirley Yamaguchi the wife in the photograph.

House Of Bamboo (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Sayonara Means Goodbye Gobbling up more Tokyo locations, director Samuel Fuller follows the American apparent thug Spanier (Robert Stack) into the real then-landmark (since demolished) Kokusai theater, though the rooftop scene is from the (nearby) Matsuma department store, then hunting for Shirley Yamaguchi, the wife of a murdered gangster, into a busy bath house, in House Of Bamboo, 1955.

House Of Bamboo (1955) -- (Movie Clip) When You Act Like A Hoodlum We remain far from clear on the nature of game being played by Robert Stack as Spanier, an American goon looking to shake down various Tokyo merchants, but he finally reaches Robert Ryan (his first scene, as Dawson, backed by Cameron Mitchell et al), full of attitude himself, in director Samuel Fuller’s shot-in-Japan House Of Bamboo, 1955.

House Of Bamboo (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Open, This Is A Military Supply Train Skewing convention even with his all-news exposition, Samuel Fuller, directing for producer Buddy Adler, Darryl Zanuck and 20th Century-Fox, begins the first American studio feature shot wholly in Japan, with violence and Mount Fuji, in House Of Bamboo, 1955, starring Robert Stack and Robert Ryan.

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Gregory, Not Peck Sheree North (as Katy, in one of her first lead roles) narrating the opening, introducing her snoozing husband (Tom Ewell) and his agent (Les Tremayne), script by Albert Beich and director Frank Tashlin, in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, 1956.

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) I Didn' t See That Movie Hack TV writer Greg (Tom Ewell), hanging at his bachelor pal's place with his wife away in the service, visited by frisky neighbor Sandy (Rita Moreno), who all but names Ewell's earlier movie (Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch), in Frank Tashlin's The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, 1956.

South Pacific (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair Mitzi Gaynor as nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush, created in James Michener’s WWII stories, first seen on Broadway (Mary Martin) and given voice by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, directed on stage and screen by Joshua Logan, with a song that was Martin’s idea, shooting in Hawaii, and Rossano Brazzi her subject, in South Pacific, 1958.

South Pacific (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Cockeyed Optimist Not a mistake, the screen turns yellow-gold, in a technique director Joshua Logan disliked but didn't have time to fix, as Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) sings Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cockeyed Optimist" for Emile (Rossano Brazzi) in South Pacific, 1958.

South Pacific (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Nothing Like A Dame! Ray Walston (as "Luther") leads the chorus, with a drop-in by Mitzi Gaynor (as nurse "Nellie") in easily the beefiest number from South Pacific, 1958, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Nothing Like A Dame."

South Pacific - (Re-issue Trailer) Joshua Logan's movie version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Broadway musical South Pacific (1958) stars Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi.

Bus Stop - (Original Trailer) An innocent cowboy kidnaps a small-time singer (Marilyn Monroe) with whom he's infatuated in Joshua Logan's Bus Stop (1956).

Young Lions, The - (Original Trailer) A Jewish soldier (Montgomery Clift) faces anti-Semitism when he enlists to fight World War II in The Young Lions (1958).

Anastasia - (Original Trailer) A group of exiled Russians claim to have found the living daughter (Ingrid Bergman) of the Tsar in Anastasia (1956).

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - (Original Trailer) A marine (Robert Mitchum) and a nun (Deborah Kerr) are shipwrecked on a Pacific Island in John Huston's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957).

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The - (Original Trailer) A middle-aged man is left to tend house while his wife is accepted by the Air Force training program and becomes a Lieutenant in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956).

Salome - (Original Trailer) Rita Hayworth plays the dancing daughter of Herod in Salome (1953) with Charles Laughton as the lecherous father.

No Sad Songs for Me - (Original Trailer) A terminally ill woman (Margaret Sullavan) struggles to leave her husband and child taken care of before she dies in No Sad Songs for Me (1950).

Companions

Anita Louise

Wife

Actor. Married from 1940 until his death.

Bibliography

Notes

He was awarded the Legion of Merit.

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