James Jerome Hill II (March 2, 1905 – November 21, 1972) was an American filmmaker and artist known for his award-winning documentary and experimental films.

Career

Hill was the child of railroad executive

Louis W. Hill Louis Warren Hill (May 19, 1872– April 27, 1948), was an American railroad executive. He was the president (corporate title), president and board chairman of the Great Northern Railway (U.S.), Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial ar ...

. He was educated at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, where he drew covers, caricatures and cartoons for campus humor magazine ''

The Yale Record ''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...

''.Caws, Mary Ann (2005). "Jerome Hill". ''camargofoundation.org''. Cassis, France: Camargo Foundation. Web. Retrieved January 27, 2014. His 1950 documentary ''Grandma Moses'', written and narrated by Archibald MacLeish, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Two-reel. He won the 1958

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

for his film ''

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...

''. In addition to making films, he was a painter and composer. His last film, the autobiographical '' Film Portrait'' (1972), was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

in 2003.

Philanthropy

Hill founded the Jerome Foundation, which gives grants to non-profit arts organizations and artists in Minnesota and New York City. Hill started it as the Avon Foundation in 1964, but after his death it was renamed the Jerome Foundation. Among the projects the foundation funds is the

American Composers Forum The American Composers Forum is an American organization that works for the promotion and assistance of American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minn ...

's Jerome Fund for New Music, which supports the creation of new works of music with grants to composers. Hill also founded the Camargo Foundation in 1967, which administers an artists residency in

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...

, France.

Personal life

Hill was a stakeholder in

Sugar Bowl Ski Resort Sugar Bowl is a ski and snowboard area in northern Placer County near Norden, California along the Donner Pass of the Sierra Nevada, approximately west of Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80, that opened on December 15, 1939. Sugar Bowl is a medium ...

. He had a

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

built at Sugar Bowl and, while living there, paid for and operated "The Magic Carpet", the first

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

on the west coast.

Filmography (as director)

* 1932 ''La cartomancienne'' * 1937 ''Ski Flight'', featuring

Otto Lang :''see also Otto Lang (film producer) and Otto Lang (actor)'' Otto Emil Lang, (born May 14, 1932) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. Life and career Lang was born in Handel, Saskatchewan. In 1961, he was appointed Dean of Law at the U ...

* 1950 ''

Grandma Moses Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. H ...

'', written and narrated by Archibald MacLeish * 1950 ''Cassis'' * 1957 ''

'', won

* 1961 ''The Sand Castle'' with Mabel Mercer * 1964 ''Open the Door and see all the People'' * 1965 ''Magic Umbrella'' * 1966 ''Death in the Forenoon'' * 1968 ''The Artist's Friend'' * 1969 ''Canaries'' * 1969 ''Merry Christmas'' * 1972 '' Film Portrait'', added to the

in 2003 * 1991 ''Carl G. Jung or Lapis Philosophorum'' (material from an abandoned project, shot 1950, edited and published by

Jonas Mekas Jonas Mekas (; December 24, 1922 – January 23, 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwi ...

)

References

Folkstreams Folkstreams is a non-profit organization that aims to collect and make available online documentary films about American folk art and culture. It preserves and provides wide access to documentary films about the activities, voices, and experiences ...

Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill Sr. Book
Book about Louis W. Hill Sr., son and successor of empire builder James J. Hill, Father of Jerome Hill at Ramsey County Historical Society. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Jerome American film directors 1905 births 1972 deaths Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners American experimental filmmakers American documentary filmmakers

Career

Philanthropy

Personal life

Filmography (as director)

References

External links