Mervyn LeRoy was an eminent American film director and producer. He made films of various genres like drama, romance, comedy, and musical. He began his career by selling newspapers and worked his way into show business. When he went to Hollywood, he gradually found work as an actor playing juvenile roles in silent films. Ambitious and curious by nature, he quickly learnt the basics of direction. He was signed by Warner Brothers in 1927 and created many classic movies of different genres for the studio, including the famous gangster films ‘Little Caesar’ and ‘I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang’. In 1938, he joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and produced several films, including the classic, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. He also directed romances like ‘Waterloo Bridge’ and ‘Random Harvest’. After a successful stint at MGM, he returned to Warner Bros during the mid 1950s. Although eight of his films received nomination in the Academy Awards Best Picture category, he received only a single nomination for Best Director. In 1945, he received a special Oscar for a short documentary on religious intolerance titled ‘The House I Live In’. In 1975, he won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Academy Award.
