Contents
1 Early life 2 Early career
2.1 Paramount 2.2 Columbia
3 Later career 4 Personal life and death 5 Scandal 6 Partial filmography 7 References
7.1 Bibliography
8 Sources 9 External links
Early life[edit]
Wanger was born Walter Feuchtwanger in San Francisco, and pronounced
"Wanger" to rhyme with "danger". He was the son of Stella
(Stettheimer) and Sigmund Feuchtwanger, who were from German Jewish
families that had emigrated to the United States in the nineteenth
century.[1] Wanger was from a non-observant Jewish family, and in
later life attended Episcopalian services with his wife. In order to
assimilate into American society, his mother altered the family name
simply to Wanger in 1908.[2] The Wangers were well-connected and upper
middle class, something which later differentiated Wanger from the
other Jewish film moguls who came from more ordinary backgrounds.
Wanger attended
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he developed
an interest in Amateur theatre. After leaving Dartmouth, Wanger became
a professional theatrical producer in New York City where he worked
with figures such as the influential British manager Harley
Granville-Barker and the Russian actress Alla Nazimova.[3]
Following the
American entry into World War I
American entry into World War I in 1917, Wanger served
with the United States Army in Italy initially in the Signal Corps
where he worked as a pilot on reconnaissance missions,[4] and later in
propaganda operations directed at the Italian public. It was during
this period that Wanger first came into contact with filmmaking. In
April 1918 Wanger was transferred to the Committee on Public
Information, and joined an effort to combat anti-war or pro-German
sentiment in Allied Italy. This was partly accomplished through a
series of short propaganda films screened in Italian cinemas promoting
democracy and Allied war aims.[5]
After the Allied victory, Wanger returned to the United States in 1919
and was discharged from the army. Wanger married silent film actress
Justine Johnstone
Justine Johnstone in 1919. He initially returned to theatre
production, before a chance meeting with
Jesse Lasky
Jesse Lasky drew him into the
world of commercial filmmaking.[6] Lasky was impressed with Wanger's
ideas and his experiences in the theatre, and hired him to head a New
York office vetting and acquiring books and plays for use as film
stories for
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky (later to become Paramount), which
was then the largest film production company in the world.[7]
Early career[edit]
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Paramount[edit]
Wanger's job was to help meet the studio's large annual requirement
for fresh stories . One of Wanger's major successes in his early years
with the company was his identification of the British novel The Sheik
as a story with potential. In 1921 it was turned into an extremely
successful film starring Rudolph Valentino. The film helped establish
the popularity of the Orientalist genre, which Wanger returned to a
number of times during his career.[8]
By 1921, Wanger was unhappy with the terms he was receiving and left
his job with Paramount. He travelled to Britain where he worked as a
prominent cinema and theatre manager until 1924. While on a visit to
London,
Jesse Lasky
Jesse Lasky offered to appoint him as "general manager of
production" on improved terms and Wanger accepted.[9]
Wanger's second spell with Paramount lasted from 1924 to 1931, during
which time his annual wage rose from $150,000 to $250,000.[10] He was
tasked with overseeing the work of the studio heads, which meant he
had little involvement with the production of individual films.
Because he was based in New York, Wanger worked more closely with the
company's Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. A rivalry developed
between Wanger-influenced Astoria productions and those of B. P.
Schulberg who ran the Paramount productions in Hollywood.[11] From the
mid-1920s, the company was rapidly overtaken by the recently formed
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the industry's leading company and this along
with heavy losses incurred on big-budget films, led to Paramount's
executives decision in 1927 to eventually close the New York operation
and shift all production to Hollywood. Wanger opposed this move and
felt he was being squeezed out of the company.[12]
In 1926 Warner Brothers's premièred Don Juan, a film with music and
sound effects, and the following year released
The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer with
dialogue and singing scenes. Along with other big companies, Paramount
initially resisted adopting sound films and continued to exclusively
make silent films. Wanger convinced his colleagues of the importance
of sound, and personally oversaw the conversion of a silent baseball
film Warming Up to sound.[13] After the film's successful release, the
company switched dramatically away from silent to sound.
After being closed for a year, the Astoria Studios were re-opened in
1929 to make sound films, taking advantage of their close proximity to
Broadway where many actors were recruited to appear in early Talkies.
Wanger recruited large numbers of new performers including Maurice
Chevalier, the Marx Brothers, Claudette Colbert, Jeanette MacDonald,
Fredric March
Fredric March and
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins and directors such
George Cukor
George Cukor and
Rouben Mamoulian.[14] Wanger's New York films were often adapted from
stage plays and focused on sophisticated comedies, often with European
settings, while Schulberg concentrated on more populist stories in
Hollywood. As the effects of the
Great Depression
Great Depression hit the film
industry in the early 1930s, the Astoria Studios increasingly
struggled to produce box office hits, and in December 1931 it was
closed down again. Wanger had been informed that his contract would
not be renewed, and he had already left the company.[15]
Columbia[edit]
After leaving Paramount, Wanger tried unsuccessfully to set himself up
as an independent. Unable to secure financing for films, he joined
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures in December 1931. Wanger was recruited by Harry
Cohn, who wanted to move Columbia away from its
Poverty Row past by
producing several special, large-budget productions each year to
complement the bulk of the studio's low-budget films.[16] Wanger was
to take on a greater personal role in individual films than he had
previously, although he always attempted to give directors and
screenwriters creative freedom. In general his efforts were
overshadowed by the more successful films made by
Frank Capra
Frank Capra for
Columbia.
Later career[edit]
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Wanger was given an
Honorary Academy Award in 1946 for his service as
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He
refused another honorary Oscar in 1949 for Joan of Arc, out of anger
over the fact that the film, which he felt was one of his best, had
not been nominated for Best Picture.[17]
His 1958 production of
I Want to Live!
I Want to Live! starred
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward in an
anti-capital punishment film that is one of the most highly regarded
films on the subject. Hayward won her only Oscar for her role in the
film.
In 1963, Wanger was nominated for an
Academy Award
Academy Award for his production
of Cleopatra.
In May 1966, Wanger received the Commendation of the Order of Merit,
Italy's third-highest honor, from Consul General Alvaro v. Bettrani,
"for your friendship and cooperation with the Italian government in
all phases of the motion picture industry."[18]
Personal life and death[edit]
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Wanger married silent film actress
Justine Johnstone
Justine Johnstone in 1919. They
divorced in 1938 and in 1940 he married
Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett to whom he
remained married until their divorce in 1965. They had two daughters,
Stephanie (born 1943) and Shelley Antonia (born 1948), and Wanger
adopted Bennett's daughter, Diana, by her marriage to John Fox.
Wanger died of a heart attack, aged 74, in New York City. He was
interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, California.[19]
Scandal[edit]
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Starting in 1950, and continuing for 12 years, Bennett was represented
by agent Jennings Lang. Formerly the vice-president of the Sam Jaffe
Agency, he had become the head of MCA's West Coast television
operations. On the afternoon of December 13, 1951, they had a meeting
to talk over an upcoming television show.
Bennett parked her Cadillac convertible in the lot at the back of the
MCA offices, at Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive, across the
street from the Beverly Hills Police Department, and she and Lang
drove off in his car. Meanwhile, her husband
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger drove by at
about 2:30 p.m. and noticed his wife's car parked there. Half an
hour later, he again saw her car there and stopped to wait. Bennett
and Lang drove into the parking lot a few hours later and he walked
her to her convertible. As she started the engine, turned on the
headlights and prepared to drive away, Lang leaned on the car, with
both hands raised to his shoulders, and talked to her.
In a fit of jealousy, Wanger walked up and twice shot and wounded the
unsuspecting agent. One bullet hit Jennings in the right thigh, near
the hip, and the other penetrated his groin. Bennett said she did not
see Wanger at first. She said she suddenly saw two livid flashes, then
Lang slumped to the ground. As soon as she recognized who had fired
the shots, she told Wanger, "Get away and leave us alone." He tossed
the pistol into his wife's car.[20]
She and the parking lot's service station manager took Lang to the
agent's doctor. He was then taken to a hospital, where he recovered.
The police, who had heard the shots, came to the scene and found the
gun in Bennett's car when they took Wanger into custody. Wanger was
booked and fingerprinted, and underwent lengthy questioning. He was
booked on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder.
"I shot him because I thought he was breaking up my home", Wanger told
the chief of police of Beverly Hills. Bennett denied a romance,
however. "But if Walter thinks the relationships between Mr. Lang and
myself are romantic or anything but strictly business, he is wrong",
she declared. She blamed the trouble on financial setbacks involving
film productions Wanger was involved with, and said he was on the
verge of a nervous breakdown. The following day Wanger, out on bond,
returned to their Holmby Hills home, collected his belongings and
moved out. Bennett, however, said there would not be a divorce.
The following is extracted from the book On Sunset Boulevard (1998, p.
431) by Ed Sikov:
In 1951, producer
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger discovered that his wife, Joan
Bennett, was having an affair with the agent Jennings Lang. Their
encounters were brief and frequent. When Lang and Bennett weren't
meeting clandestinely at vacation spots like New Orleans and the West
Indies, they were back in L.A. enjoying weekday quickies at a Beverly
Hills apartment otherwise occupied by one of Lang's underlings at the
agency. When Wanger found proof of the affair, he did what any crazed
cuckold would do: he shot Lang in the balls.
On December 14, Bennett issued a statement in which she said she hoped
her husband "will not be blamed too much" for wounding her agent. She
read the prepared statement in the bedroom of her home to a group of
newspapermen while TV cameras recorded the scene. Wanger's attorney,
Jerry Giesler, mounted a "temporary insanity" defense. He then decided
to waive his rights to a jury and threw himself on the mercy of the
court. Wanger served a four-month sentence in the County Honor Farm at
Castaic, 39 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles, quickly returning to
his career to make a series of successful films. The experience
affected him profoundly, and in 1954 he made the prison film Riot in
Cell Block 11.
In David Niven's autobiography, Bring on the Empty Horses, Niven
describes a similar incident as that of Lang in which Wanger stalked
Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn and threatened to kill him, believing he was also having
an affair with Bennett.
Partial filmography[edit]
The Sheik (1921)
The Cocoanuts
The Cocoanuts (1929)
The Lady Lies (1929)
Roadhouse Nights (1930)
Tarnished Lady
Tarnished Lady (1931)
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Going Hollywood (1933)
Queen Christina (1933)
The President Vanishes (1934)
Private Worlds
Private Worlds (1935)
Every Night at Eight (1935)
Shanghai (1935)
Palm Springs (1936)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
History Is Made at Night (1937)
Stand-In (1937)
Blockade (1938)
Trade Winds (1938)
I Met My Love Again
I Met My Love Again (1938)
Stagecoach (1939)
Eternally Yours (1939)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Slightly Honorable (1940)
The Long Voyage Home
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
The House Across the Bay
The House Across the Bay (1940)
Eagle Squadron (1942)
Arabian Nights (1942)
We've Never Been Licked
We've Never Been Licked (1943)
Gung Ho! (1943)
Scarlet Street
Scarlet Street (1945)
Salome Where She Danced
Salome Where She Danced (1945)
Night in Paradise
Night in Paradise (1946)
Canyon Passage
Canyon Passage (1946)
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
The Lost Moment
The Lost Moment (1947)
Joan of Arc (1948)
Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
The Reckless Moment
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Tulsa (1949)
Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
Kansas Pacific (1953)
Riot in Cell Block 11
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Navy Wife
Navy Wife (1956)
I Want to Live!
I Want to Live! (1958)
Cleopatra (1963)
References[edit]
^ "Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids".
Digicoll.library.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
^ Bernstein 2000, p. 6.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 23–30.
^ Bernstein 2000, p. 31.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 31–35.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 35–41.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 41–43.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 44–46.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 49–53.
^ Bernstein 2000, p. 54.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 60–61.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 62–63.
^ Bernstein 2000, p. 63.
^ Bernstein 2000, p. 65.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 68–69.
^ Bernstein 2000, pp. 75–77.
^ Booker, Keith M. (2011-03-17). Historical Dictionary of American
Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810874596.
^ Bernstein, Matthew (1994). Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent. U
of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781452904689.
^
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger on IMDb
^ "
Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett Sees Mate Shoot Agent –'Thought He Was Breaking Up
My Home,' Says Wanger – Jennings Lang Hit by Two Bullets; Actress
Denies Any Romance", Los Angeles Times, December 14, 1951, p. 1.
Bibliography[edit]
Sources[edit]
Bernstein, Matthew. Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent. St. Paul, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-52008-127-7. Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. ISBN 978-0-39453-979-9.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias (ed.). The Cleopatra Files: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive. Stanford, 2013. ISBN 978-0-61582-919-7.
External links[edit]
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger on IMDb
Article on Wanger shooting Jennings Lang
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Frank Capra President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences 1939–1941 Succeeded by Bette Davis
Preceded by Bette Davis President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences 1941–1945 Succeeded by Jean Hersholt
Preceded by Bob Hope 12th Academy Awards Oscars host 13th Academy Awards Succeeded by Bob Hope 14th Academy Awards
Authority control
WorldCat Identities VIAF: 15575719 LCCN: n85199162 ISNI: 0000 0000 8095 5093 GND: 119239604 SUDOC: 055823084 BNF: cb13611708r (data) BNE: XX1089572 SNAC: w6571khx
v t e
Films produced by Walter Wanger
The Sheik (1921)
The Cocoanuts
The Cocoanuts (1929)
The Lady Lies (1929)
Applause (1929)
Roadhouse Nights (1930)
Tarnished Lady
Tarnished Lady (1931)
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Going Hollywood (1933)
Another Language (1933)
Queen Christina (1933)
The President Vanishes (1934)
Private Worlds
Private Worlds (1935)
Smart Girl (1935)
Every Night at Eight (1935)
Shanghai (1935)
Mary Burns, Fugitive
Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935)
The Moon's Our Home
The Moon's Our Home (1936)
Her Master's Voice (1936)
The Case Against Mrs. Ames
The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936)
Fatal Lady
Fatal Lady (1936)
Palm Springs (1936)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
Big Brown Eyes
Big Brown Eyes (1936)
Spendthrift (1936)
You Only Live Once (1937)
Vogues of 1938 (1937)
History Is Made At Night (1937)
Stand-In (1937)
52nd Street (1937)
Trade Winds (1938)
Blockade (1938)
Algiers (1938)
I Met My Love Again
I Met My Love Again (1938)
Stagecoach (1939)
Winter Carnival (1939)
Eternally Yours (1939)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
The Long Voyage Home
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Slightly Honorable (1940)
The House Across the Bay
The House Across the Bay (1940)
Sundown (1941)
Eagle Squadron (1942)
Arabian Nights (1942)
We've Never Been Licked
We've Never Been Licked (1943)
Gung Ho! (1943)
Ladies Courageous
Ladies Courageous (1944)
Scarlet Street
Scarlet Street (1945)
Salome, Where She Danced
Salome, Where She Danced (1945)
Night in Paradise
Night in Paradise (1946)
Canyon Passage
Canyon Passage (1946)
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
The Lost Moment
The Lost Moment (1947)
Tap Roots
Tap Roots (1948)
Joan of Arc (1948)
Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
The Reckless Moment
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Tulsa (1949)
Aladdin and His Lamp (1952)
Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
Battle Zone (1952)
Fort Vengeance (1953)
Kansas Pacific (1953)
Riot in Cell Block 11
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Navy Wife
Navy Wife (1956)
I Want to Live!
I Want to Live! (1958)
Cleopatra (1963)
v t e
Academy Honorary Award
1928–1950
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. /
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin (1928)
Walt Disney
Walt Disney (1932)
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple (1934)
D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith (1935)
The March of Time
The March of Time /
W. Howard Greene and
Harold Rosson (1936)
Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen /
W. Howard Greene /
Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art Film Library /
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett (1937)
J. Arthur Ball /
Walt Disney
Walt Disney /
Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin and
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney /
Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Devereaux Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art
Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren L. Ryder, Harry D. Mills,
Louis Mesenkop, Walter Oberst /
Oliver T. Marsh and Allen Davey /
Harry Warner
Harry Warner (1938)
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks /
Judy Garland
Judy Garland /
William Cameron Menzies / Motion
Picture Relief Fund (Jean Hersholt, Ralph Morgan, Ralph Block, Conrad
Nagel)/ Technicolor Company (1939)
Bob Hope
Bob Hope /
Nathan Levinson (1940)
Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA
Manufacturing Company /
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski and his associates / Rey
Scott / British Ministry of Information (1941)
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer /
Noël Coward
Noël Coward /
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1942)
George Pal
George Pal (1943)
Bob Hope
Bob Hope /
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien (1944)
Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg, and the Republic Studio Sound
Department /
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner
(1945)
Harold Russell
Harold Russell /
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier /
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch / Claude Jarman Jr.
(1946)
James Baskett
James Baskett / Thomas Armat, William Nicholas Selig, Albert E. Smith,
and
George Kirke Spoor
George Kirke Spoor /
Bill and Coo / Shoeshine (1947)
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger /
Monsieur Vincent
Monsieur Vincent /
Sid Grauman
Sid Grauman /
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor (1948)
Jean Hersholt
Jean Hersholt /
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire /
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille / The Bicycle Thief
(1949)
Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer /
George Murphy
George Murphy /
The Walls of Malapaga (1950)
1951–1975
Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly /
Rashomon
Rashomon (1951)
Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper /
Bob Hope
Bob Hope /
Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd / George Mitchell / Joseph
M. Schenck /
Forbidden Games
Forbidden Games (1952)
20th Century-Fox Film Corporation / Bell & Howell Company / Joseph
Breen / Pete Smith (1953)
Bausch & Lomb Optical Company /
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye / Kemp Niver / Greta
Garbo /
Jon Whiteley
Jon Whiteley /
Vincent Winter / Gate of Hell (1954)
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor (1956)
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers / Gilbert M.
"Broncho Billy" Anderson /
Charles Brackett /
B. B. Kahane (1957)
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier (1958)
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton /
Lee de Forest
Lee de Forest (1959)
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper /
Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel /
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills (1960)
William L. Hendricks / Fred L. Metzler /
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins (1961)
William J. Tuttle
William J. Tuttle (1964)
Bob Hope
Bob Hope (1965)
Yakima Canutt
Yakima Canutt /
Y. Frank Freeman
Y. Frank Freeman (1966)
Arthur Freed (1967)
John Chambers /
Onna White (1968)
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (1969)
Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish /
Orson Welles
Orson Welles (1970)
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin (1971)
Charles S. Boren /
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson (1972)
Henri Langlois
Henri Langlois /
Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx (1973)
Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks /
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir (1974)
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford (1975)
1976–2000
Margaret Booth (1977)
Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz /
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier /
King Vidor
King Vidor / Museum of Modern Art
Department of Film (1978)
Hal Elias /
Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness (1979)
Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda (1980)
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (1981)
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (1982)
Hal Roach
Hal Roach (1983)
James Stewart
James Stewart /
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts (1984)
Paul Newman
Paul Newman /
Alex North (1985)
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy (1986)
Eastman
Kodak
Kodak Company /
National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada (1988)
Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa (1989)
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren /
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (1990)
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (1991)
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (1992)
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr (1993)
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni (1994)
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas /
Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones (1995)
Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd (1996)
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen (1997)
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (1998)
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda (1999)
Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff /
Ernest Lehman (2000)
2001–present
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier /
Robert Redford
Robert Redford (2001)
Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole (2002)
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards (2003)
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet (2004)
Robert Altman
Robert Altman (2005)
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (2006)
Robert F. Boyle (2007)
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall /
Roger Corman
Roger Corman /
Gordon Willis
Gordon Willis (2009)
Kevin Brownlow /
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard /
Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach (2010)
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones / Dick Smith (2011)
D. A. Pennebaker
D. A. Pennebaker /
Hal Needham
Hal Needham /
George Stevens Jr.
George Stevens Jr. (2012)
Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury /
Steve Martin
Steve Martin /
Piero Tosi (2013)
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière /
Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki /
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara (2014)
Spike Lee
Spike Lee /
Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands (2015)
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan /
Lynn Stalmaster /
Anne V. Coates / Frederick Wiseman
(2016)
Charles Burnett /
Owen Roizman /
Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland / Agnès