Studio Head
In 1933 he left Warners to found 20th Century Films with Joseph Schenck and William Goetz, releasing their material through United Artists. In 1935 Schenck and Zanuck bought out Fox studios to become 20th Century Fox. Zanuck was vice-president of this new studio and took an interventionist approach, closely involved in editing and producing. Like the other heads of Hollywood studios, during the war he was commissioned a Colonel in the Army Signal Corps. He returned to Fox in 1944.
In the 1950s, he withdrew from the studio to concentrate on independent producing in Europe. He left his wife, Virginia Fox, in 1956 and moved to Europe to concentrate on producing. Many of his later films were designed in part to promote the careers of his successive girlfriends, Bella Darvi, Irina Demick and Geneviève Gilles, and several movies he produced featured his girlfriend of moment, including the French singer Juliette Gréco.
He returned to control Fox in 1962, replacing Spyros Skouras, in a confrontation over the release of Zanuck's production of The Longest Day as the studio struggled to finish the difficult production of Cleopatra. He made his son Richard D. Zanuck head of production. He became involved in a power struggle with the board and his son circa 1969. In May 1971 Zanuck was forced from "his" studio.
Read more about this topic: Darryl F. Zanuck
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