Article

Jack L. Warner

Published Online June 19, 2011

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Jack Leonard Warner (born John Eichelbaum), studio executive, producer (born 2 August 1892 in London, ON; d at Los Angeles, Ca 9 Sep 1978). The youngest of the four brothers behind the Warner Bros. movie studio, Jack Warner was involved in producing movies for more than half a century. As head of Warner Bros. for much of his career, he pioneered an assembly-line approach to film production. He received the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1959 and a Best Picture Oscar in 1965 for My Fair Lady. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2004.

Jack Warner was born into a Polish immigrant family that settled in Baltimore, Maryland, moved to Canada and then back to Baltimore, and finally settled in Youngstown, Ohio.

In 1903 Jack's older brothers Harry, Albert and Sam acquired a nickelodeon in Pennsylvania; Jack sang to the audience between screenings. In 1905 the 4 brothers went into movie distribution and by 1910 they were producing their own films.

Warner Bros. was formed in 1918 with Jack as the head of production at the company's studio on Sunset Boulevard, later moved to Burbank, Ca. Launching the sound era in 1927 with The Jazz Singer, Warner Bros. became one of Hollywood's major studios with enduring stars such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn. In 1942, Warner Bros. released the wartime drama Casablanca with Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, viewed by fans and critics alike as a classic example of Hollywood studio moviemaking at its very best.

In 1956, Harry and Albert sold their interest in the company (Sam had died shortly after the release of The Jazz Singer) and Jack stayed on as studio chief. He would occasionally produce films himself and is credited as the producer of My Fair Lady, which won the Oscar for best picture of 1964. Jack Warner was inducted posthumously into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2004.