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Jerry Wald, the son of a dry goods salesman, was the dynamic Hollywood writer-producer known for his charisma, ambition, sharpness, frequent brilliance, and restless energy that propelled him from one project to the next. An avid reader with a natural literary instinct, Wald began his career in 1929 as a radio columnist for the modest publication The New York Evening Graphic while completing his journalism studies at New York University. His talent for writing for popular radio stars like crooner Russ Columbo soon led to short feature assignments at RKO, which caught the attention of Warner Brothers. Signed in 1934, Wald started as a screenwriter, often collaborating with Julius J. Epstein, Mark Hellinger, or Richard Macaulay. He contributed to iconic film noirs such as The Roaring Twenties (1939), Torrid Zone (1940), and They Drive by Night (1940), primarily serving as the 'ideas man'—the creator of catchy titles, original plots, twists, and narrative devices. Always equipped with a pad and pencil, Wald was constantly generating ideas and earned a reputation for promoting films before they were fully developed. Once his vision was clear, production could begin within a week.
By 1941, Wald had succeeded Hellinger as associate producer and was promoted to producer the following year. Over the next decade, he produced a string of hits for Warner Brothers across diverse genres: war films like Across the Pacific (1942), melodramas such as Flamingo Road (1949), and swashbucklers like Adventures of Don Juan (1948). Upholding his belief that "there were no washed-up actors, only washed-up stories," he revitalized the careers of Warner's leading ladies by casting them in some of the era’s finest scripts: Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Humoresque (1946); Claire Trevor in Key Largo (1948); and Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). Wald received the Irving Thalberg Award at the 1948 Oscars for the latter. Despite his exuberance and larger-than-life presence, Wald was generally seen as easygoing, friendly, and likable—unusual traits for a producer. However, when it came to financial matters, he was resolutely tough and uncompromising.
In 1950, the ever-restless Wald left Warner Brothers to form an independent production company with Norman Krasna at RKO. Their ambitious co-production deal with Howard Hughes called for around sixty films, but only four were produced before Wald moved on to become vice president in charge of production under Harry Cohn at Columbia, a position he held for three years. In 1956, he established Jerry Wald Productions, releasing films through 20th Century Fox and operating from his own lot, described by the New York Times as 'a one-man studio.' Departing from the gritty, primarily black-and-white realism of his Warner’s work, Wald’s productions during this period were mostly lavish, glamorous, and frequently shot in Technicolor. Among his most successful films were the quintessential romantic drama An Affair to Remember (1957); the widely popular melodrama Peyton Place (1957), adapted and enhanced from a controversial bestseller; and The Long, Hot Summer (1958), which launched Paul Newman’s stardom. Wald’s remarkable string of successes might have extended into the 1960s had his life not been cut short at fifty in July 1962.
