George Schaefer (film producer)

George Schaefer (November 5, 1888, Brooklyn, New York – August 8, 1981) was a movie producer and the president of RKO in 1941 when Orson Welles made his classic film Citizen Kane.[1]

Schaefer joined Paramount Pictures in 1920 and became general manager in 1933.[2] He became vice president and chief executive officer at United Artists and was then hired as president of RKO in 1938. He was fired from RKO in 1942 because of the controversy surrounding Welles' second film The Magnificent Ambersons and due to RKO's lackluster box office receipts.

Other films made by RKO during Schaefer's time at the studio include; Gunga Din (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), and The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Schaefer was the first person to receive the Motion Picture Association's award for civic and patriotic service.[1]

Cultural references

Schaefer was played by Roy Scheider in RKO 281, a highly fictionalized 1999 TV movie based upon the events surrounding the Citizen Kane controversy.

References
  1. "GEORGE SCHAEFER, MOVIE HEAD". The New York Times. 1981-08-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  2. "The Ten Leading News Events". Film Daily Year Book (1934). p. 33.


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