Background
Schenck was born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to Jewish parents.
Schenck was born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to Jewish parents.
He and his family – including younger brother Nicholas – emigrated to New York City in 1893, he and Nicholas eventually got into the entertainment business operating concessions at New York"s Fort George Amusement Park. Schenk supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother. In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise.
The couple divorced in 1934 and Schenck then built a home in Palm Springs, California.
Within a few years Schenck was made the second president of the new United Artists. The Political Graveyard reports that he was an alternate delegate to the 1928 Republican National Convention from California.
In 1933 he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck to create Twentieth Century Pictures that merged with Fox Film Corporation in 1935. As chairman of the new 20th Century Fox he was one of the most powerful and influential people in the film business.
Caught in a payoff scheme to buy peace with the militant unions, he was convicted of income tax evasion and spent time in prison before being granted a presidential pardon.
Following his release, he returned to 20th Century Fox where he became infatuated with a young actress named Marilyn Monroe and played a key role in launching her career. Schenck retired in 1957 and shortly after suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. He died in Los Angeles in 1961 at the age of 82 and was interred in Maimonides Cemetery in Brooklyn, New New York
