03/25/2001

By Jane Sumner / The Dallas Morning News

Who was Irving G. Thalberg anyway?

Warned by doctors that he wouldn't live past 30, he skipped college to become Hollywood's Boy Wonder and one of the most influential production execs of the 1920s and `30s.

At 21, he was put in charge of production at Universal Studios, where he locked horns with enfant terrible Eric von Stroheim, finally firing him off Merry-Go-Round.

At 23, he was named second in charge under Louis B. Mayer at MGM, which he helped forge into the most prestigious, glamorous film factory in Hollywood during his 12-year tenure.

At MGM, he again clashed with von Stroheim, editing (some say butchering) his five-hour film Greed into a manageable length.

His long list of acclaimed box-office hits includes Ben-Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Grand Hotel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan, the Ape Man.

Although closely involved with nearly three dozen films, he eschewed a film credit. Until The Good Earth was posthumously released, his name never appeared on the screen.

He invented sneak previews to test audience reaction and didn't hesitate to order re-takes of scenes that didn't preview well.

Married Norma Shearer and fostered her acting career.

Revived the middle-aged Marx Brothers' career with their most profitable and critically acclaimed picture, A Night at the Opera.

One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the model for F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel The Last Tycoon.

Died on Sept. 14, 1936, of pneumonia at 37. The Thalberg Award was announced 13 months later but stalled for a year while producers quarreled over its first recipient. When it went to Darryl F. Zanuck, his old boss Jack Warner filed a formal protest.