William Goetz

Born in Philadelphia, Goetz came up on the executive side of the business rather than the creative. In 1933 he joined Darryl Zanuck to co-found Twentieth Century Pictures, and when it merged with the Fox Film Corporation he became a senior executive of the combined 20th Century-Fox. His marriage to Edith Mayer, daughter of MGM's Louis B. Mayer, made him Hollywood royalty by connection — though a bitter political falling-out permanently estranged him from his father-in-law.

From 1946 he ran production at Universal-International, and it was there, in 1950, that he made his most consequential move. Working with MCA's Lew Wasserman, Goetz gave James Stewart a share of the profits of Winchester '73 in place of a large salary. The gamble paid Stewart handsomely and detonated the old order: profit participation would soon become standard, shifting leverage and wealth from the studios toward the stars and their agents.

As an independent producer Goetz mounted handsome, adult pictures — the anti-prejudice romance Sayonara with Marlon Brando, the taut James Stewart Western The Man from Laramie, and the war drama They Came to Cordura. He and his wife were also among Hollywood's most serious art collectors, their home hung with Impressionist and modern masterpieces.

Goetz never sought the limelight and is little remembered today, but his profit-sharing deal was one of the pivotal business decisions in the history of the movies. He died in 1969.