Hunt Stromberg Jr. Explained

Hunt Stromberg Jr.
Birth Date:16 May 1923
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, United States
Death Place:Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation:Theatre producer, television producer, radio producer
Parents:Hunt Stromberg
Katherine Kerwin

Hunt Stromberg Jr. (May 16, 1923 – November 24, 1986) was a Broadway, radio and television producer best remembered for the discovery and casting of Maila Nurmi as Vampira, and for producing the 1973 film .

Life and career

Stromberg was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 16, 1923, the son of legendary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and independent producer Hunt Stromberg. He began his career as a producer with the successful revival of Victor Herbert's The Red Mill in 1945 - which, at age 23, made him the youngest producer on Broadway. He followed up with revivals of The Front Page in 1946 and Sally in 1948.[1]

In the early 1950s Stromberg was program director for KABC-TV, a Los Angeles ABC-TV affiliate, and was looking for a host for a late-night horror movie program. He remembered seeing a beautiful, wasp-waisted woman win first prize at a masquerade ball dressed as a ghoul. After months of searching he tracked down actress/model Maila Nurmi and in 1954 they created Vampira. An overnight, nationwide success, the oft-copied character was to remain popular for decades.[2]

By the late 1950s Stromberg was a protégé of James Aubrey and followed him to CBS when he became top programming executive there, involved with such shows as The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes, Gilligan's Island, Green Acres, and Lost in Space.[3] Due to corporate in-fighting, he brought about the cancellation of The Judy Garland Show, and together with Aubrey was ousted from CBS in 1965.[4]

As an independent TV producer Stromberg turned to the horror genre and produced in 1973, which is "Considered by many to be the finest film version of this classic tale."[5] Following that project, he began work on a made-for-TV film adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which was never completed. (His father had produced the 1940 MGM adaptation of the novel, starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.)[6] In 1980 he executive produced The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and at the time of his death held the movie option for Robert Bloch's book Night of the Ripper.

Hunt Stromberg Jr. was married to Marilyn Elwell from 1947 to 1949. He died on November 24, 1986, in Los Angeles, California - where he was born - of a ruptured aneurysm.[7]

References

  1. Web site: Hunt Stromberg Jr.. The Broadway DataBase.
  2. Web site: Maila "Vampira" Nurmi . https://archive.today/20130118125045/http://www.blockbusteronline.com/movies/maila-vampira-nurmi.html . dead . 2013-01-18 . Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide . Blockbuster Video .
  3. Book: Warm up the snake: a Hollywood memoir, page 273. John Rich. 2006. 0472115782.
  4. Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show by Coyne Steven Sanders, copyright 1990, paperback edition 1992, Zebra Books .
  5. Web site: Summary. 2006. Stanford University.
  6. Book: Looser, Devoney. The Making of Jane Austen. Baltimore, MD. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2017. 140. 978-1421422824.
  7. Web site: Biography. Bruce Eder. allmovie.com.