Louis B. Mayer

Canadian-American film producer (1884–1957)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1885
Died: 1957
Works: 1

Top works

The American Film Institute/Louis B. Mayer oral history collection

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Production · Dymer, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Vyshhorod Raion, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Louis Burt Mayer (born Lazar Meir in the Russian Empire; July 12, 1884 – October 29, 1957) was an American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM). Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors and stars in Hollywood. Mayer…

Known for

Gene Kelly - An American in Hollywood — Self (archive footage)2025
Rat Pack — Self (archive footage)2022
Sid & Judy — Self (archive photos)2019
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year — Self (archive footage)2009
Checking Out: Grand Hotel — Self (archive footage)2004
So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM — Self (archive footage)

Article

Louis Burt Mayer (/ˈmeɪ.ər/; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1884 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors, and stars in Hollywood.

Mayer was born in the village of Dymer, Ukraine, and grew up poor in Saint John, New Brunswick. He quit school at 12 to support his family and later moved to Boston and purchased and renovated a small vaudeville theatre in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He renovated and expanded several other theatres in the Boston area catering to audiences of higher social classes. After expanding and moving to Los Angeles, he teamed with film producer Irving Thalberg and they developed hundreds of films. Mayer handled the business of running the studio, such as setting budgets and approving new productions, while Thalberg, still in his twenties, supervised all MGM productions.