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Edward Lewis (December 16, 1919 – July 27, 2019)[1] was an American film producer and writer. As producer, he worked on nine films in partnership with actorKirk Douglas; from 1958 to 1966, Lewis was Vice-President of Kirk Douglas film production company,Bryna Productions, as well as its subsidiaries,Brynaprod,Joel Productions and Douglas and Lewis Productions.[2][3] He also produced nine films directed byJohn Frankenheimer. Lewis also wrote several books.
Lewis was born inCamden, New Jersey to Max Klein and Florence (Klein) Lewis. Before graduating, Lewis went toBucknell University, and then to dental school. Before graduating, he served in theUnited States Army in England as a Captain, at a military hospital. AfterWorld War II, he lived in Los Angeles, where he married Mildred Gerchik; they had two daughters.[4] He died at his home inLos Angeles,California.[1]
In June 1956, Lewis began what would be a ten-year partnership with actor Kirk Douglas and his independent film production companyBryna Productions.[5] That month, Bryna Productions acquired Lewis' original story and screenplay,Mavourneen, a comedy about three girls in an Irish town who conspire to trick the town's most eligible bachelor into marrying one of them.[5] Lewis was appointed Associate Producer for bothMavourneen (which was never made) andLizzie, a film about a woman with a triple personality complex, in production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starringEleanor Parker.[6][5] Lewis would quickly become a key member for the Bryna Productions organization. In September 1956, Lewis was assigned as producer for Bryna Productions'The Careless Years, a teenage drama co-starringNatalie Trundy andDean Stockwell.[7] In November 1957, Lewis was appointed head of Bryna Productions' television department, charged with producing and developing the seriesTales of the Vikings forUnited Artists Television.[8]
In late March 1958, Lewis was appointed Vice-President of Bryna Productions, a position he held for the next five years, until he was made an equal partner in the firmDouglas and Lewis Productions in December 1963, holding that position for an additional three years.[9][10][11][12] During this time, he worked on such films asSpartacus, co-starring Douglas,Tony Curtis,Laurence Olivier,Charles Laughton,Peter Ustinov,John Gavin andJean Simmons;The Last Sunset, co-starring Douglas,Rock Hudson,Joseph Cotten andDorothy Malone;Lonely Are the Brave, co-starring Douglas andWalter Matthau;The List of Adrian Messenger, co-starring Douglas andGeorge C. Scott;Seven Days in May; co-starring Douglas,Burt Lancaster,Fredric March andAva Gardner; Seconds, co-starring Hudson andSalome Jens; andGrand Prix, co-starringJames Garner,Yves Montand,Eva Marie Saint andToshiro Mifune. WithSpartacus, Lewis contributed to ending theHollywood blacklist by commissioningDalton Trumbo to write the screenplay and 'fronting' for him, only revealing the subterfuge toUniversal-International whenSpartacus was nearly completed.[4] Trumbo is reported to have written of Lewis that he "risked his name to help a man who'd lost his name".[13]
In January 1967, Edward Lewis Productions and John Frankenheimer Productions together signed a four-picture financing and distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, for the production of several films which the pair had developed during the Douglas and Lewis Productions era.[14] Lewis and Frankenheimer co-produced five additional films together, includingThe Fixer,The Extraordinary Seaman andThe Gypsy Moths, as part of their Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pact, followed byI Walk the Line andThe Horsemen, as part of a subsequent pact with Columbia Pictures.[14][15]
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