Mervyn LeRoy
American film director
Died when: 86 years 333 days (1042 months)Star Sign: Libra
Mervyn LeRoy (/ləˈrɔɪ/;October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer.In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies.
During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other his cohort Michael Curtiz.
LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and They Won't Forget (1937).
LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer.Perhaps his most notable achievement as a producer is the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, of which he was also uncredited as a director.