Joseph Vogel | |
---|---|
Born | New York, U.S. | September 7, 1895
Died | March 1, 1969
Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. | (aged 73)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Film studio executive |
Known for | President of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Spouse | Lena Lloyd |
Children | 1 |
Joseph Richard Vogel (September 7, 1895 – March 1, 1969) was an American executive best known for his stint at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including a reign as president from 1956 to 1963.
Vogel was born in New York and attended Townsend Harris High School. He started working part-time as an usher at the Loew's Palace Theatre in Brownsville, Brooklyn and at age 18 was appointed manager of the Fulton Theatre for Loew's. [1] He became the manager of Loew's State Theatre in New York City when it opened in August 1921. [2] He worked his way up Loew's Theatres and by 1934 was in charge of all their theatres outside New York. In 1939 he became a director of Loew's Inc. and by 1945 became director for all their theatres. [1]
In 1954 following a government decree separating Loew's production and distribution actives from the exhibition company, Vogel was elected president of Loew's Theatres Inc. [3] [1]
In October 1956 Vogel replaced Arthur M. Loew, son of founder Marcus Loew, as president of Loew's Inc., which was renamed MGM Inc. [4] [5] [1]
MGM had been loss-making and had to deal with a significant corporate turmoil, including a takeover attempt in 1957 from former president Louis B. Mayer in association with two board members, Stanley Meyer and Joseph Tomlinson. Mayer attacked Vogel calling him a "fool" and not "capable of filling the post – no more capable of filling it than you would be fighting the heavyweight champion." [6] However Vogel managed to fight off the takeover attempt and Mayer died of leukemia in 1957. [7]
Vogel and his head of production Sol Siegel initially enjoyed a number of successful years at MGM, green lighting such movies as Gigi (1958), North by Northwest (1959), King of Kings (1961) and most notably Ben-Hur (1959). [8] Gigi and Ben-Hur won the Academy Award for Best Picture back-to-back. [1] Ben-Hur, which Vogel had insisted be made against the will of the board, was the second highest-grossing film of all time behind the studio's Gone With the Wind and helped make the company profitable again. [5] He also made the costly How the West Was Won (1962) against the will of the board, but it was also a hit. [5]
However he also oversaw a number of expensive flops, such as the remakes of Cimarron (1960), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and especially Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), which ultimately caused millions in losses. [5]
Vogel was forced to resign in January 1963, replaced by Robert O'Brien and was moved upstairs to the role of chairman. [1] Four months later he retired to Palm Beach, Florida. [1] He had surgery for brain cancer and died at Palm Beach hospital on March 1, 1969, of a heart attack. [3] [1] [5] He was survived by a wife Lena and son Richard. [1] He was the brother of cinematographer Paul C. Vogel.
In 1959 he was made Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic following completion of Ben-Hur. [5]