Biography
Hecht won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1956 for "Marty" and produced box office successes such as "Vera Cruz," "Trapeze," the cult classic "Sweet Smell of Success," the acclaimed "Separate Tables," "Birdman of Alcatraz," and the popular Western comedy "Cat Ballou." He was a member of both the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Screen Producers Guild.
In the 1930s, during his initial time in Hollywood, Hecht was a leading dance director, collaborating with major stars like the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, and Marion Davies. In late 1939, Nat Goldstone hired Hecht as a talent agent. Initially representing actors, the Goldstone Agency expanded to include a literary department under Hecht’s leadership, leading to his promotion as a partner. Over two years, Hecht managed up to 36 writers at the agency.
In late 1945, Hecht discovered Burt Lancaster starring in the Broadway play "A Sound of Hunting." Impressed by Lancaster, Hecht candidly told him that larger agencies would assign him a junior agent, whereas Hecht would focus mostly on him and work hard to keep him employed. The two quickly traveled to Hollywood, where Hecht secured Lancaster’s roles in his first two films, "The Killers" and "Brute Force."
In 1947, Hecht co-founded Norma Productions, an independent film company, with Lancaster. He co-produced "The Flame and the Arrow," an action film with acrobatics at Warner Brothers, followed by the swashbuckler "The Crimson Pirate," both starring Lancaster. Next came the widescreen Western "Vera Cruz," pairing Lancaster with Gary Cooper, which grossed over $11 million—a significant box office hit at the time.
Among Hecht’s notable productions, "Marty" (1954) was a low-budget film shot primarily on location in New York City, with a budget of $250,000 plus $100,000 for advertising. Unexpectedly, this small black-and-white film featuring unknown stars won the Academy Award for Best Picture, surpassing titles like "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," "Mister Roberts," "Picnic," and "The Rose Tattoo."
"Trapeze," a big-budget circus film starring Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, and Lancaster, became one of the top three highest-grossing films of 1956. That year, writer James Hill joined the company as a partner. Between 1954 and 1959, as the Hollywood studio system declined, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions emerged as the most successful independent production company in Hollywood. Hecht received another Academy Award nomination for the 1958 film "Separate Tables." However, his most enduring film is arguably "Sweet Smell of Success," released in late 1957. Although initially a box office failure, it has since become an iconic cult classic of the 1950s and is cited as a major influence by esteemed directors like Barry Levinson and Martin Scorsese.
After the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster partnership ended, Hecht remained one of Hollywood’s top three independent producers, alongside Stanley Kramer and the Mirisch brothers, for the next decade.
In 1962, Hecht independently produced "Birdman of Alcatraz," hiring the young John Frankenheimer to direct. Lancaster starred as Robert Stroud, a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder who became a self-taught ornithologist and author on bird medicine. The film's editing process was arduous, with four editors hired and dismissed, and the rough cut lasting four hours. Lancaster himself spent months overseeing the final edit, resulting in Academy Award nominations for Lancaster, Telly Savalas (Supporting Actor), Thelma Ritter (Supporting Actress), and Burnett Guffey (Cinematography).
Hecht then revived Roy Chanselor’s mid-1950s Western novel "The Ballad of Cat Ballou." The story follows a young woman (Jane Fonda, in her film debut) returning home to find her father’s farm under threat from local gunmen. She hires the legendary Kid Shelleen, who turns out to be a washed-up drunk, to defend the property. Released in the summer of 1965, "Cat Ballou" earned over $20 million at the box office (equivalent to $162 million today), ranking among the top ten films of the year and winning numerous awards. At the 38th Academy Awards in 1966, it received five Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor win for Lee Marvin.
