Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902 – December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture during his tenure.

Zanuck was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, the son of Sarah Louise (née Torpin), who later married Charles Norton, and Frank Harvey Zanuck, who owned and operated a hotel in Wahoo. He had an older brother, Donald (1893–1903), who died in an accident when he was only 9 years old. Zanuck was of partial Swiss descent, and raised a Protestant. At age six, Zanuck and his mother moved to Los Angeles, where the better climate could improve her poor health. At age eight, he found his first movie job as an extra, but his disapproving father recalled him to Nebraska. In 1917, despite being 15, he deceived a recruiter, joined the United States Army, and served in France with the Nebraska National Guard during World War I.

Upon returning to the US, he worked in many part-time jobs while seeking work as a writer. He found work producing movie plots, and sold his first story in 1922 to William Russell and his second to Irving Thalberg. Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas, story editor at Universal Pictures' New York office, stated that one of the stories Zanuck sent out to movie studios around this time was completely plagiarized from another author's work.

Zanuck then worked for Mack Sennett and FBO (where he wrote the serials The Telephone Girl and The Leather Pushers) and took that experience to Warner Bros., where he wrote stories for Rin Tin Tin and under a number of pseudonyms wrote over 40 scripts from 1924 to 1929, including Red Hot Tires (1925) and Old San Francisco (1927). He moved into management in 1929, and became head of production in 1931.

In 1933, Zanuck left Warner Bros. over a salary dispute with studio head Jack L. Warner. A few days later, he partnered with Joseph Schenck to form 20th Century Pictures, Inc. with financial help from Joseph's brother Nicholas Schenck and Louis B. Mayer, president and studio head of Loew's, Inc and its subsidiary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, along with William Goetz and Raymond Griffith. 20th Century released its material through United Artists.

During that short time (1933–1935), 20th Century became the most successful independent movie studio of its time, breaking box-office records with 18 of its 19 films, all profitable, including Clive of India, Les Miserables, and The House of Rothschild. After a dispute with United Artists over stock ownership, Schenck and Zanuck negotiated and used their studio to bring the bankrupt Fox studios in 1935 to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.

Zanuck was Vice President of Production of this new studio and took a hands-on approach, closely involving himself in scripts, film editing, and producing. ... Source: Article "Darryl F. Zanuck" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Darryl Francis Zanuck est un producteur de cinéma, réalisateur et scénariste américain. Né le 5 septembre 1902 à Wahoo dans le Nebraska, il est mort le 22 décembre 1979 à Palm Springs en Californie, d'une pneumonie.

Darryl F. Zanuck est l'un des monuments du Septième Art. Avec plus de 200 films produits durant cinquante ans, du cinéma muet des années 1920 jusqu'au début des années 1970. On lui doit plusieurs chefs-d'œuvre et la révélation d'une multitude de talentueux réalisateurs et stars.

Il commence comme gagman pour Charles Chaplin dans les années 1910, avant de gravir petit à petit tous les échelons de la hiérarchie hollywoodienne. Stewart Granger raconte avoir boxé Darryl Zanuck parce que celui-ci veut coucher avec son épouse Jean Simmons. Zanuck lui dit qu'il va briser sa carrière, et il le fait: après 1957, la carrière américaine de Stewart Granger est finie.

Darryl Zanuck est marié pendant plus de trente ans à Virginia Fox, l'une des actrices fétiches de Buster Keaton. Il vit par la suite plusieurs idylles, d'abord avec Bella Darvi, puis notamment avec Juliette Gréco, suivie par l'actrice Irina Demick et aussi avec la jeune actrice française Geneviève Gilles à la fin des années 19605.

Après sa rupture avec Juliette Gréco et sa démission de la Fox (dont il reste actionnaire majoritaire), parlant couramment le français, il vient vivre en France au début des années 1960 et s'installe à Paris au no 44 de la rue du Bac.

Darryl Zanuck est inhumé au Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery de Westwood (Los Angeles).

Son fils, Richard D. Zanuck (1934-2012), est également producteur de cinéma.

Source: Article "Darryl F. Zanuck" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.