| Industry | Animation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957; 68 years ago (1957) |
| Headquarters | , |
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The Mirisch Company was an American filmproduction company owned byWalter Mirisch and his brothers,Marvin andHarold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times asMirisch Production Company,Mirisch Pictures Inc.,Mirisch Films, andThe Mirisch Corporation.[1]
Walter Mirisch began to work as a producer atMonogram Pictures beginning withFall Guy (1947), the profitableBomba, the Jungle Boy series,Wichita (1955), andThe First Texan (1956), by which time the company was known as Allied Artists. Walter Mirisch was in charge of production at the studio when it madeInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) andLove in the Afternoon (1957).
The Mirisch Company was founded in 1957[2] at which time it signed a 12-picture deal withUnited Artists (UA) that was extended to 20 films two years later. Its first production wasMan of the West (1958) starringGary Cooper.[3] UA acquired the company on March 1, 1963, but the Mirisch brothers continued to produce for their distribution, under other corporate names, in rented space at theSamuel Goldwyn Studio.
It produced many successful motion pictures forUnited Artists, beginning with the release ofFort Massacre (1958) but later includingSome Like It Hot (1959),The Horse Soldiers (1959),The Apartment (1960),The Magnificent Seven (1960),West Side Story (1961),Follow That Dream (1962 withElvis Presley),The Great Escape (1963),The Pink Panther (1963),Hawaii (1966),In the Heat of the Night (1967),The Thomas Crown Affair (1968),Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and many others.
In 1964Mirisch Films Ltd, or Mirisch Films GB was formed in the United Kingdom for the production of633 Squadron,A Shot in the Dark and several other films.The Pink Panther featured an animatedPink Panther, which soon became a star of a series of theatrical cartoons made byDePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released by Mirisch/UA. The cartoon series earned the partnership name ofMirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng[4] for the copyright of The Pink Panther and is used to this day by special arrangement through MGM for new cartoon specials and series.
Mirisch first entered television in 1959 with the series,Wichita Town for NBC. It also co-produced live-action television shows such asThe Rat Patrol,Hey, Landlord andThe Magnificent Seven television series, as well as a number of television movies and cartoon shows ofThe Super 6 andThe Pink Panther Show. In 1965, the company, along withLee Rich startedMirisch-Rich Television Productions, with the intent to produce shows for network television and it maintains headquarters in the Samuel Goldwyn Studios.[5] Rich left in 1967 and it was soon renamedMirisch Television Productions.[6]
The company forged long-term associations with directors such asBilly Wilder,Blake Edwards,Robert Wise,George Roy Hill,William Wyler,J. Lee Thompson,John Sturges, andNorman Jewison, who directed three consecutive successes for it:The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966),In the Heat of the Night (1967), andThe Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
The following films and television series were fromMirisch Companies:
Television series:
Television films:
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