orig. Schmuel Gelbfisz later Samuel Goldfish
born July 1879, Warsaw, Pol.
died Jan. 31, 1974, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.
U.S. film producer.
He emigrated alone at age 13 from Poland to New York, where he worked in a glove factory and became a salesman. He formed a film company with his brother-in-law, Jesse L. Lasky (18801958), and Cecil B. DeMille in 1913. In 1917 he left the company and with Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Pictures Corp. By the time that company merged into MGM (1924), he had become an independent producer. He employed top screenwriters, directors, and actors to produce films of high quality, including Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Guys and Dolls (1955), and Porgy and Bess (1959).