Background

Dore Schary was born on August 31, 1905 in Newark, United States. Son of Herman Hugo and Belle (Drachler) Schary.

Education

Schary shortened his first name, Isadore, to Dore when he was thirteen. His early professional years were spent as a newspaperman and stage actor, director, and writer. He graduated from Central High School in Newark in 1923.

Career

Schary had his first success as a writer when a play he wrote, Too Many Heroes, ran on Broadway for 16 performances in the fall of 1937. He worked in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and in 1938 won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story as co-writer of the screenplay for Boys Town. From 1942 to 1943, he ran MGM's "B" pictures unit. He was with RKO Pictures when in 1948 he became chief of production at MGM.

Schary and studio chief and founder Louis B. Mayer were constantly at odds over philosophy, with Mayer favoring splashy, wholesome entertainment and Schary leaning toward what Mayer derided as darker "message pictures". In the postwar period, MGM's success began to decline. MGM's parent company, Loews Incorporated in New York decided that Schary might be able to turn the tide. Schary was involved in disputes at the studio with Mayer over films such as Battleground and The Red Badge of Courage. In 1951, Mayer was ousted and Schary installed as president. He was replaced in 1956 by Benny Thau, another long-term executive.

During his term, the studio system was coming to an end as a result of United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948), the Supreme Court decision which severed the connection between film studios and the theaters which showed their films. In addition, television was causing a decrease in theater attendance.

Schary co-wrote (with Charles Palmer) the 1950 book Case History of a Movie, which extensively covered, from initial conception to screen, the production of the film The Next Voice You Hear....

MGM swimming star Esther Williams would later state in her 1999 autobiography, The Million Dollar Mermaid, that Schary was just as rude, cruel, and as imperious as Mayer had been. She noted that she thought it appropriate that Schary was fired on Thanksgiving Day, since he was a "turkey". In 1956 in his final year running MGM, he appeared on the show This is Your Life. Host Ralph Edwards stated that there had never been a show where more stars appeared to honor a guest.

Following his departure from MGM, Schary wrote the Broadway play Sunrise at Campobello. The play won five Tony Awards. He wrote and produced the motion picture of the same name, which was released by Warner Brothers, in 1960. He also had a brief uncredited role in the film as Chairman of the Connecticut Delegation.

Achievements

• To honor his memory, the Anti-Defamation League established the Dore Schary Awards in 1982.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sunrise at Campobello

    (The book is in excellent condition. Pages are clean, very...)

    1958

• film

  • Heyday

• movie

  • The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple, Rudy Vallee: Amazon Digital Services LLC

    (Buy The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer: Read 186 Movies & T...)

  • Battleground (1949): Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy: Amazon Digital Services LLC

    (Buy Battleground (1949): Read 277 Movies & TV Reviews - A...)

  • The Swan: Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead: Amazon Digital Services LLC

    (Buy The Swan: Read 17 Movies & TV Reviews - Amazon.com)

Politics

Although one of the studio executives who formulated the 1947 Waldorf Statement, he became an outspoken opponent of the anti-communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee. He served as National Chairman of the B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation League and was appointed by Mayor John Lindsay to the office of New York City Commissioner for Cultural Affairs.

Membership

He was member of B’nai B’rith.

Connections

He married (March 5, 1932) Miriam Svet (pianist and later recognized painter) with whom he had three children: the novelist and memoirist Jill Schary Robinson, psychoanalyst Dr. Joy Schary, and CLIO award winning producer Jeb Schary. Miriam and Dore Schary collectively had seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Father:

Herman Hugo Schary

Mother:

Belle (Drachler) Schary

Spouse:

Miriam Svet

child:

Jill Schary

child:

Joy Schary

child:

Jeb Schary

References

• MGM: Saving The Best for Last: Dore Schary and the Death of MGM