Selznick was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Florence Anna (née Sachs) and Lewis J. Selznick, a silent movie producer and distributor of Jewish origin. … 展开

David Sarnoff, head of RKO, hired Selznick as Head of Production in October 1931. In addition to implementing rigorous cost-control measures, … 展开

Selznick longed to be an independent producer with his own studio. In 1935 he realized that goal by leasing RKO's Culver City studios and back lot, forming Selznick International Pictures, … 展开

In 1928, Selznick began an on-again off-again affair with Jean Arthur, one of the actresses under contract at Paramount while he was an executive there. Simultaneously he was … 展开

In 1933 he returned to MGM where his father-in-law, Louis B. Mayer, was studio CEO. Mayer established a second prestige production unit for Selznick, parallel to that of 展开

After Rebecca, Selznick closed Selznick International Pictures and took some time off. His business activities included the loan of his contracted artists to other studios, including Alfred Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh and Joan Fontaine. He formed The Selznick … 展开

Jonathan Shields, the lead character in the 1952 film The Bad and the Beautiful, was loosely based on Selznick, to the point that Selznick contemplated … 展开