As a producer, Mirisch aggressively recruited top filmmakers such as Billy Wilder and Norman Jewison, then gave them freedom to craft the movies as they saw fit.
Mirisch entered the movie business in his teens, advancing from usher to management jobs with a theater chain before going on to production work on low-budget action flicks and Westerns in the late 1940s. Mirisch was willing to take on unusual projects. A Harvard-trained business executive, he efficiently oversaw the commerce side of things, allowing his filmmakers to concentrate on their movies.
The Mirisch brothers adjusted their management style film by film, depending on the level of oversight they felt a director wanted or needed. In a 1972 interview in the journal “Films and Filming,” Mirisch said some directors worked well as their own producers, while others showed little interest beyond the actual filmmaking.
We should all be so lucky. 💔🙏
A true deliverer of great art. In the Heat of the Night is an amazing movie. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger under Norman Jewison. What a film, what a statement. Rip Mr Mirisch, thank you for all the amazing work.
Vaccinated? 🧐
God bless the old soul