BIO

Hal B. Wallis was born Harold Brent Wallis in Chicago, Illinois, in 1899.

He moved to Los Angeles in his early 20s and got a job managing a theater for Warner Bros.   Studio head Jack L. Warner was impressed with his marketing skills and brought him into the publicity department.   In 1928, Wallis was promoted to the production department.   By 1933, he was running production for Warner Bros.

After clashing with Warner over who would accept the Best Picture Academy Award for Casablanca (1942), Wallis left to start his own production company in 1944.

He was credited with producing over 140 feature films during a career that lasted 45 years.   His last picture was released in 1975.

As a producer, Wallis was nominated for three Best Picture Academy Awards:

• The Rose Tattoo (1955);
• Becket (1964) and
• Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).

He married the comedic actress Louise Fazenda and they raised one child.   She passed away in 1962.   He married the actress Martha Hyer in 1966.

Wallis died in Rancho Mirage, California, in 1986, at the age of 87.

Additional biographical information is available at:

NOTED FILMS