[Deathwatch] Marvin Mirisch, Producer, 84

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Veteran Producer Marvin Mirisch Dead at 84
Tue Nov 19, 8:49 PM ET

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Producer Marvin Mirisch, one of three
filmmaking brothers behind some of the biggest independently produced
movies of the 1960s, including "The Apartment" and "West Side Story,"
has died at age 84, family members said on Tuesday.

Mirisch, who operated largely behind the scenes as the deal-maker,
negotiator and business executive in partnership with brothers Harold
and Walter, died Nov. 17 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles,
following a lengthy illness, his son, Don Mirisch said.

After going into business with his eldest brother, Irving, supplying
candy to movie theaters, Marvin Mirisch moved to Los Angeles in 1953 to
join his two other siblings in the movie production business at
Monogram Pictures, which later became Allied Artists.

While there, the Mirisches independently packaged the John Huston films
"Moulin Rouge" and "Moby Dick," which were released by United Artists
and Warner Bros., respectively. They also played a role in producing
Billy Wilder's "Love in the Afternoon" and William Wyler's "Friendly
Persuasion," both for United Artists. Those collaborations led to
additional work with a number of prominent directors, paving the way
for later success.

In 1957, the brothers left Allied Artists for a deal with United
Artists that led to the production of 68 motion pictures over the next
17 years, rivaling the output of the major Hollywood studios.

Those films earned a total of 79 Academy Award nominations and won 23
Oscars (news - web sites), three for best picture -- Wilder's romantic
comedy "The Apartment," starring Jack Lemmon (news - web sites), the
musical "West Side Story" and Norman Jewison (news)'s racially charged
drama "In the Heat of the Night," starring Sidney Poitier (news).

Other films from the Mirisch brothers during this period included
Wilder's "Some Like It Hot," John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven" and
"The Great Escape," Blake Edwards (news)' "The Pink Panther" and
Jewison's "The Thomas Crowne Affair" and "The Russians Are Coming, the
Russians are Coming."

Harold Mirisch died in 1968, and the brothers culminated their run of
UA pictures with the film production of "Fiddler on the Roof" in 1972.

Although primarily regarded as the chief business mind among the
brothers Mirisch, Marvin was knowledgeable in all aspects of
production, receiving credit as an executive producer on the 1979 film
versions of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella (news) as the vampire and
the 1983 Dudley Moore film "Romantic Comedy."

Mirisch, who was active as an executive and board member of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (news - web sites), also served as
executive producer of a new "Pink Panther" cartoon series in the latter
part of his career.

In addition to his son, he is survived by two daughters, six
grandchildren and his brother, Walter.