Buddy Adler

Academy Award-winning producer and former production head for 20th Century Fox, Maurice "Buddy" Adler produced some of Hollywood's most beloved films during his 20-year career. The son of the famed elevator-shoe salesman, Adler started out writing advertisements for his father. He then began penning short magazine stories until 1935 when he began writing short films for MGM. His MGM short Quicker 'n a Wink(1940) won the Oscar for "Best Short Subject." During WW II, he served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Army Pictorial Service. He went on to work as a producer for Columbia in 1947. Six years later he won another Oscar for From Here to Eternity (1953). In 1956, he succeeded Darryl Zanuck and became the head of Fox, a position he held until he died during the preproduction work on the ill-fated Cleopatra (1963).

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide