Harold Hecht | |
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Born |
Harold Adolph Hecht June 1, 1907 Yorkville, New York City, New York, United States |
Died | May 26, 1985 Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States |
(aged 77)
Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
Resting place |
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, United States 34°03′30″N 118°26′27″W / 34.05845°N 118.44087°W |
Nationality | American |
Education | American Laboratory Theatre |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1923–1985 |
Spouse(s) |
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Children |
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Harold Adolph Hecht (June 1, 1907 – May 26, 1985), born in New York City, was an Academy Award-winning Hollywood film producer, dance director and talent agent. He was also, though less noted for, a literary agent, a theatrical producer, a theatre director, a film director and a Broadway actor. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Screen Producers Guild.
During his first stay in Hollywood in the early to mid-1930s, Hecht was one of the leading dance directors in the movie industry, working with the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier and Marion Davies. In 1947, he co-founded Norma Productions, an independent film production company, with his business partner and managed actor, Burt Lancaster. From 1954 to 1959, the Norma Productions subsidiaries, Hecht-Lancaster Productions and Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions, were the biggest and most important independent production units in Hollywood. Following the end of the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions team, Hecht continued as one of the top three independent producers in Hollywood, a position he shared with Stanley Kramer and the Mirisch brothers, for the next ten years.