Samuel Bischoff


Samuel Bischoff was an American film producer who was responsible for more than 400 full-length films, two-reel comedies, and serials between 1922 and 1964.

Life

Born to a Jewish family in Hartford, Connecticut, Bischoff graduated from Boston University, then headed for Hollywood, where he began his career in 1922 by producing comedy shorts including Stan Laurel's Mixed Nuts.
He was the head of Samuel Bischoff Productions, a low-budget production company in the 1930s. He drew the attention of Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn, who hired him to supervise the studio's feature film productions. In 1932, he moved to Warner Bros. and when Hal B. Wallis became production chief after Darryl F. Zanuck left in 1933, Bischoff and Henry Blanke were the main producers at the studio. He returned to Columbia in 1941.
He was also the President of Moroccan Pictures Inc. in 1948, producing the George Raft film Outpost in Morocco. In 1950 he became production chief at RKO replacing Sid Rogell but did not stay long.
He rejoined Warners and by 1953, was one of only three producers left, along with Blanke and David Weisbart.
His last film was The Strangler.
Bischoff died in 1975, in Hollywood, California, from general debilitation at the age of 84.

Filmography