Sol C. Siegel

Sol C. Siegel (March 30, 1903 – December 29, 1982) was an American film producer. Two of the numerous films he produced, A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early life and career
Sol C. Siegel was born on March 30, 1903, in Kalvarija, Lithuania. In the early 1930s, Siegel was sales manager of the Brunswick-Columbia record label. In 1934, he began his Hollywood career by assisting his brother, Moe Siegel, with the merger of six small production studios into Republic Pictures. He stayed on at Republic as an executive producer, working with Gene Autry and John Wayne.

Sol C.Siegel was born March 30 or 31st (local records lost during WWII) in Kalvarija, Poland, now Lithuania.

During a contract dispute between Republic Studios and Gene Autry Mr. Siegel brought in a member of a singing group called "The Sons of the Pioneers", whose name was Leonard Slye, and changed his screen name to Roy Rogers.

Producer
In October 1940, Siegel left his position as head of Republic Studios to be a producer at Paramount Pictures.

In 1946, he moved to 20th Century Fox. Two of the films he produced there, A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He also produced The Iron Curtain (1948) and later the Marilyn Monroe musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as well as the star-studded High Society for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Louis Armstrong.

MGM
In 1956, Siegel joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Towards the end of the year, Dore Schary was fired as head of production and Siegel was rumoured to be given his job. However Ben Thau got the job and Siegel remained a producer, making Les Girls, Man on Fire, Merry Andrew, and Some Came Running.

Siegel was appointed head of studio operations at MGM for three years in April 1958. The following month he was appointed vice president in charge of production. By this stage, the studio had already greenlit a number of movies that would go on to be major successes, including Ben-Hur and North by Northwest.

During Siegel's time, MGM produced the major Cinerama epic How the West Was Won. He was also the subject of an extortion attempt.

The success of Ben-Hur encouraged Siegel to authorise a series of remakes at MGM such as Cimarron, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Mutiny on the Bounty. All these films lost money for the studio. This — along with a number of other box office failures — led to him being replaced as head of production in January 1962 by Robert M. Weitman.

Siegel then began working as an independent producer. He ran his own production company from 1964 to 1967.

Siegel died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on December 29, 1982, aged 79.

Personal life
He was married to Ruth (Shor) Siegel until her death in 1962; together they had three sons, Andrew, Norman, and Richard.

Selected filmography
• The Iron Curtain

• A Letter to Three Wives

• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

• Three Coins in the Fountain

• High Society

• Man on Fire

• Les Girls

• Merry Andrew

• Some Came Running

• The Wreck of the Mary Deare

• Never So Few

• The Gazebo

• The Last Voyage

• Home from the Hill

• Please Don't Eat the Daisies

• Platinum High School

• The Gallant Hours

• The Subterraneans

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• The Time Machine

• The Day They Robbed the Bank of England

• All the Fine Young Cannibals

• Key Witness

• BUtterfield 8

• Cimarron

• The Village of the Damned

• Where the Boys Are

• The Marriage-Go-Round

• Go Naked in the World

• The Green Helmet

• Atlantis, the Lost Continent

• Two Loves

• The Honeymoon Machine

• Ada

• A Thunder of Drums

• Bridge to the Sun

• King of Kings

• Bachelor in Paradise

• Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

• Light in the Piazza

• Sweet Bird of Youth

• All Fall Down

• The Tartars

• The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

• Two Weeks in Another Town

• I Thank a Fool

• Period of Adjustment

• Mutiny on the Bounty

• Billy Rose's Jumbo

• How the West Was Won

• In the Cool of the Day

• The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series)

Unmade films
• adaptation of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

• And Seven from America about the Olympic Games

• adaptation of The Alligators by Molly Kazan

• The Secret Classroom

• County Fair – drama set against backdrop of harness racing

• Only in America play by Harry Golden

• Charlemagne

• Lady L – film postponed

• The Winter of Our Discontent based on book by John Steinbeck

• Inamorta by Richard Brooks

• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich based on the book by William L. Shirer