| Jerome Hill | |
| Birth Name: | James Jerome Hill II |
| Birth Date: | 1905 3, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Death Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Known For: | Ski Flight (1937) Grandma Moses (1950) Albert Schweitzer (1957) Film Portrait (1972) |
| Education: | Yale University |
| Occupation: | Painter, composer, director, writer, producer |
| Parents: | Louis W. Hill, Maud Van Cortlandt Taylor |
| Relatives: | James J. Hill (grandfather) (siblings) |
| Awards: | 1957 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature[1] |
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, one of which won him an Academy Award.
Hill was the child of railroad executive Louis W. Hill.
He was educated at Yale, where he drew covers, caricatures and cartoons for campus humor magazine The Yale Record.[2]
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 for his film Albert Schweitzer.[3]
In addition to making films, he was a painter and composer.[2]
His last film, the autobiographical Film Portrait (1972), was added to the National Film Registry in 2003.
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.[4] Among the projects the foundation funds is the American Composers Forum's Jerome Fund for New Music, which supports the creation of new works of music with grants to composers.[5]
Hill also founded the Camargo Foundation in 1967, which administers an artists residency in Cassis, France.[2]
Hill was a stakeholder in Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. He had a chalet built at Sugar Bowl and, while living there, paid for and operated "The Magic Carpet", the first aerial tramway on the west coast.[6] [7]