Pandro S. Berman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pandro Samuel Berman (March 28, 1905 – July 13, 1996), also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer.

Berman was an assistant director during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair and Ralph Ince. In 1930, Berman was hired as a film editor at RKO Radio Pictures, then became an assistant producer. When RKO supervising producer William LeBaron walked out during production of the ill-fated The Gay Diplomat (1931), Berman took over LeBaron's responsibilities, remaining in the post until 1939.

After David O. Selznick became chief of production at RKO in October 1931, Berman managed to survive Selznick's general firing of most of the staff. Selznick named Berman producer for the adaptation of Fannie Hurst's short story Night Bell, a tale of a Jewish doctor's rise out of the Lower East Side ghetto to the height of becoming a Park Avenue physician, which Selznick personally retitled Symphony of Six Million. He ordered Berman to have references to ethnic life in the Jewish ghetto restored. The movie was a box-office and critical success. Both Selznick and Berman were proud of the picture, with Berman later saying it was the "first good movie" he had produced.

The Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals were in production during the Berman regime, Katharine Hepburn rose to prominence, and such RKO classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Gunga Din (both 1939) were completed.

Upset when an RKO power play diminished his authority, Berman left for MGM in 1940, where he oversaw such productions as Ziegfeld Girl (1941), National Velvet (1944), The Bribe (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Butterfield 8 (1960).

He survived several executive shake-ups at MGM and remained there until 1963, then went into independent production, closing out his career with the unsuccessful Move (1970).

Berman was the winner of the 1976 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Six of his films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Alice Adams and Top Hat (both 1935), Stage Door (1937), Father of the Bride (1950), and Ivanhoe (1952).

Berman died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 1996 in his Beverly Hills home, aged 91. He was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.

Top Hat

7.3

The Picture of Dorian Gray

7.1

Swing Time

6.8

Father of the Bride

7.0

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

7.3

Ivanhoe

6.8

Jailhouse Rock

6.2

Gunga Din

6.5

Blackboard Jungle

6.9

The Three Musketeers

6.8

Of Human Bondage

6.5

The Gay Divorcee

6.8

Sweet Bird of Youth

6.9

Stage Door

7.0

National Velvet

7.2

Shall We Dance

7.2

A Patch of Blue

7.6

The Prize

6.8

BUtterfield 8

6.3

Sylvia Scarlett

6.3

Knights of the Round Table

5.9

Room Service

6.5

Follow the Fleet

6.8

Father's Little Dividend

6.4

Bachelor Mother

7.1

Carefree

6.6

In Name Only

7.0

The Prisoner of Zenda

6.8

Alice Adams

6.7

Vivacious Lady

6.8

The Long, Long Trailer

6.8

Morning Glory

6.1

Undercurrent

5.8

Madame Bovary

6.7

Tea and Sympathy

7.0

The Brothers Karamazov

6.6

Roberta

7.0

The Seventh Cross

6.7

The Reluctant Debutante

6.7

The Mad Miss Manton

6.4

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

7.0

Mary of Scotland

6.3

What Price Hollywood?

6.7

Love Crazy

7.1

A Damsel in Distress

6.4

Bhowani Junction

5.8

Ziegfeld Girl

6.5

Christopher Strong

5.9

The Bribe

6.3

The Sea of Grass

6.3

Allegheny Uprising

5.6

Fifth Avenue Girl

7.0

Something of Value

5.5

Rio Rita

5.8

Quality Street

5.9

Winterset

5.6

Dragon Seed

6.4

The Little Minister

5.9

The Richest Girl in the World

5.6

Having Wonderful Time

4.9

Spitfire

5.4

I Dream Too Much

4.9

Bed of Roses

6.3

Battle Circus

6.0

All the Brothers Were Valiant

5.9

Quentin Durward

6.0

Somewhere I'll Find You

5.9

Romance in Manhattan

7.8

Justine

4.1

The Half-Naked Truth

5.2

Stingaree

5.9

Ann Vickers

5.9

This Man Is Mine

5.5

The Light Touch

6.2

Honeymoon Hotel

4.6

The Age of Innocence

5.4

Down to Their Last Yacht

6.0

The Life of Vergie Winters

5.9

The Silver Cord

7.1

Break of Hearts

5.5

All the Fine Young Cannibals

5.3

Slightly Dangerous

5.8

Murder on the Blackboard

5.7

The Doctor and the Girl

6.0

Sweepings

5.8

The Age of Consent

5.8

Symphony of Six Million

5.4

Soldiers Three

4.4

Move

4.6

The Big Game

5.8

Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men

7.3

Their Big Moment

4.5

That Girl from Paris

6.5

Muss 'em Up

5.5

Living in a Big Way

5.0

In Person

6.3

Wednesday's Child

3.0

Cockeyed Cavaliers

6.0

Strictly Dynamite

5.3

Gridiron Flash

3.3

Bachelor Bait

5.7

His Greatest Gamble

5.0

Where Sinners Meet

2.5

By Your Leave

3.0

Hat, Coat and Glove

5.5

We're Rich Again

4.0

Let's Try Again

2.5

The Soldier and the Lady

6.5

The Fountain

9.5

The Monkey's Paw

6.0

Man of Two Worlds

6.0