Eliot Hyman (1904–1980) was an American film executive who helped co-found Seven Arts Productions.

Biography

Hyman entered the film production business in 1948, when he co-founded Associated Artists. He became the sole owner of Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) two years later. In 1954, he began syndicating films to television through a.a.p., acquiring the entire library of 750 feature films of Warner Bros. made before 1950, as well as 1,500 short subjects and 337 ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

''/''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 1970s to the ...

'' cartoon shorts also from Warner Bros. and the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of ...

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control ...

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. He also began investing in films, including two major films of the director John Huston, ''

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Ol ...

'' (1953) and ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'' (1956). He helped fund and played an important role in the financing of the first horror film from

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

, '' The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957). In 1958 Hyman sold Associated Artists Productions to

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

and became President of

United Artists Associated Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ''Popeye ...

, for whom he bought the screen rights to several successful theatrical properties, e.g. plays and musicals, that became major films, including "

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

", "

The World of Suzie Wong ''The World of Suzie Wong'' is a 1957 novel by British writer Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute. ...

", and "

Two for the Seesaw ''Two for the Seesaw'' is a 1962 American romantic- drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine. It was adapted from the 1958 Broadway play written by William Gibson with Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft ( ...

". He also produced other motion pictures for theater exhibition through other companies that he formed. In 1960 Hyman went on his own again to form Seven Arts Productions and engaged in worldwide distribution of feature films for television. At the same time Seven Arts directly financed and produced a number of films, including ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...

'' (1962), '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962), and ''

Seven Days in May ''Seven Days in May'' is a 1964 American political thriller film about a military-political cabal's planned takeover of the United States government in reaction to the president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The ...

'' (1964). He also guided Seven Arts into stage production, including Broadway presentations of "

The Night of the Iguana ''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, p ...

", " Funny Girl", "The Owl and the Pussycat" and several other shows. From November 1966 to July 1967, Seven Arts and Warner Bros. were merged, and the company became Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Hyman was the chairman of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts from 1967 to 1969. In 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was sold to Kinney National Company which dropped the Seven Arts name. Hyman retired from the company and became a private investor.Eliot Hyman, 75; Produced Movies
, ''New York Times'' July 25, 1980 His son was the film producer Kenneth Hyman.

References

American film producers 1904 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1900s-stub