William Bellinger Hawks (January 29, 1901 – January 10, 1969) was an American film producer.

Career

Hawks attended

Yale University 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 w ...

, where he was a member of

Scroll and Key The Scroll and Key Society is a Collegiate secret societies in North America, secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Collegiate secret societies in North America#Yale University, Y ...

and graduated in 1923. In his early career, Hawks was a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stock ...

. By the early 1930s, Hawks was a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sp ...

and, as such, brought novelist

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

to his brother

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." A ...

' attention in 1932, becoming Faulkner's Hollywood agent. He created United Producers Corporation in 1940 with

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

Ronald Colman Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the United States and having a successful Cinema of the United States, ...

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...

Anatole Litvak Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...

, and

Lewis Milestone Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was a Moldovan-American film director. He is known for directing '' Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and ''All Quiet on the Weste ...

. They intended to produce ten films for

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

. ''

My Life with Caroline ''My Life with Caroline'' is a 1941 RKO Pictures American comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Ronald Colman and Anna Lee, in her second Hollywood film and her first in a starring role. The screenplay was written by John Van D ...

'' was the first of the intended series, thus Hawks became a film producer.

Personal life

Wedding portrait of Bessie Love and William Hawks

Hawks married actress

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned e ...

at St. James' Episcopal Church in

South Pasadena, California South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in the West San Gabriel Valley. It is 3.42 square miles in area an ...

, on December 27, 1929.

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

Carmel Myers Carmel Myers (April 9, 1899 – November 9, 1980) was an American actress who achieved her greatest successes in silent film. Early life Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who was born in ...

, and

Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O' ...

were her bridesmaids, and Howard Hawks and MGM wunderkind

Irving Thalberg Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...

ushered. Mary Astor was William's sister-in-law, married to brother

Kenneth Hawks Kenneth Neil Hawks (August 12, 1898 – January 2, 1930) was an American film director and producer. Life and career Hawks served in the United States Army Air Service during World War I. He then graduated from Yale University in 1919. He so ...

. Their reception was held at the Ambassador Hotel. Hawks and Love then lived at the Havenhurst Apartments in Hollywood. They had a daughter, Patricia Hawks (February 19, 1932, Los Angeles), who had some bit parts in 1952 movies. They divorced in 1936. He married actress

Virginia Walker Virginia May Walker Hawks (July 31, 1908 – December 23, 1946) was an American model and film actress. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she studied Japanese art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and pursued a modeling career in national ...

(July 31, 1916,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts – December 23, 1946, Los Angeles) in late June 1938 in Mexico. She had played Miss Alice Swallow in the 1938 comedy film ''

Bringing Up Baby ''Bringing Up Baby'' is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predi ...

'', her first film role. They divorced in 1942. He was married to Boston socialite Frances Koshland Judge (1916–1993) on October 3, 1951, in West Los Angeles by Municipal Judge Louis Kaufmann. Hawks died in Santa Monica, California, of a respiratory illness, on January 10, 1969.

Croquet

He was a member of the

United States Croquet Association The United States Croquet Association (USCA) fosters croquet in all its forms, from the familiar nine-wicket croquet game to the modern sport of six-wicket croquet. There are USCA-affiliated clubs and tournaments across the United States and Canada. ...

and was inducted posthumously into their

Croquet Hall of Fame The United States Croquet Hall of Fame was established in 1979 by the Croquet Foundation of America to recognize individuals with exceptional skill in the sport of croquet or men and women who have contributed to the sport's health and growth. The ...

in 1981, as was brother Howard in 1980. He often played with actor

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

, who was also a posthumous 1980 inductee. Hawks most often played with a

Jaques Jaques is a given name and surname, a variant of Jacques. People with the given name Jaques * Jaques Bagratuni (1879-1943), Armenian prince * Jaques Bisan (b. 1993) Beninese footballer * Jaques Étienne Gay (1786-1864) Swiss-French botanist * Jaqu ...

mallet, as did Sanders.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1941) * '' The Tall Men'' (1955) * '' The Last Wagon'' (1956) * ''

The Law and Jake Wade ''The Law and Jake Wade'' is a 1958 American Western film released in Metrocolor by MGM in CinemaScope. It is based on the 1956 novel by Marvin H. Albert and directed by John Sturges. The film was shot on location in California's High Sierra ...

'' (1958) * ''

Imitation General ''Imitation General'' is a 1958 black-and-white comedy war film in CinemaScope, directed by George Marshall, produced by William B. Hawks, and starring Glenn Ford, Red Buttons, and Taina Elg. The film, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is base ...

'' (1958)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawks, William 1901 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Film producers from Wisconsin People from Neenah, Wisconsin Yale University alumni