"The producer must be a prophet and a general, a diplomat and a peacemaker, a miser and a spendthrift," producer Jesse L. Lasky (The Cheat, 1915) once said. TCM's tribute to the producer - the person who controls the budget on a film and all its personnel, including the director - is broken into three categories.

"Studio Men" includes two of the most colorful producers ever to chomp on a cigar in Hollywood, each of whom served as head of a studio. Darryl F. Zanuck, chief of production for many years at 20th Century-Fox, is remembered for his dedication to the film industry - and for his outsized ego. "Don't say yes until I finish talking!" was a famous, and typical, Zanuck quote. At Fox, he oversaw the production of many distinguished films, as well as such unabashed audience-pleasers as the bullfighting saga Blood and Sand (1941). Harry Cohn, who served a long term as chief executive of Columbia Pictures, was famous for his ill-treatment of actors; he once referred to Judy Holliday as "that fat Jewish broad." But he also was responsible for pulling Columbia up from its "Poverty Row" status to become a major studio, beginning with Frank Capra's runaway success It Happened One Night (1934).

"Running Their Own Show" were such independent producers as David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn, each of whom had his own studio. "The way I see it, my function is to be responsible for everything," said perfectionist Selznick, who lavished typical care upon the 1937 version of A Star Is Born. Goldwyn, known for his "Goldwynisms," is said to have once asked, "How did you love the picture?" Famous for keeping his finger on the public pulse, Goldwyn had his finest hour with the Oscar®-winning The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), a study of servicemen readjusting to civilian life after World War II.

"I Did It My Way" looks at directors who maintained control over their artistic efforts by producing their own films. D.W. Griffith, the film industry's first major producer-director, helped define the language of film with such masterworks as Orphans of the Storm (1921). Billy Wilder, like Griffith, also wrote or co-wrote many of the films that he produced and directed. Known for his mischievous wit and ability to mix drama with often-bitter comedy, Wilder hit a high point with The Apartment (1960), which brought him double Oscars® for producing and directing.

by Roger Fristoe