Executive Suite
Encyclopedia
Executive Suite is a 1954 MGM
drama film
depicting the transfer of power in a corporation in trouble. The film stars William Holden
, Barbara Stanwyck
, Fredric March
, and Walter Pidgeon
. It was directed by Robert Wise
and produced by John Houseman
from a screenplay
by Ernest Lehman
based on the novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley
. The cinematography was by George J. Folsey
and the costume design by Helen Rose
.
It is one of the few Hollywood films with no music whatsoever.
He had not groomed a successor, so the board of directors
must vote for his replacement. The frontrunner is the ambitious but unimaginative Loren Shaw, the company Controller concerned more with profitability and satisfying the stockholders than rejuvenating the company. He has the backing of the main shareholder, Julia Tredway, who had been hopelessly in love with Bullard. In addition, "independent" board member George Caswell offers his support in return for certain lucrative considerations.
The only viable alternative is idealistic Vice President for Design Don Walling, who is not even sure he wants the job. He would rather spend his time developing new products and more efficient manufacturing methods, and his wife Mary is strongly against his giving up that dream. Walling is supported by Treasurer Frederick Alderson, Bullard's best friend, who sees Walling as the best hope for saving the company, but fears he might be too young for the job. Jesse Grimm is opposed to Walling for reasons of his own, while Walt Dudley is being blackmailed by Shaw, having been caught by him having an affair.
The machinations, bargaining and maneuvering leading up to the election propel the plot. In the end, Walling's enthusiasm and vision win over Julia Tredway, the others jump on the bandwagon, and he is elected.
The film also received two BAFTA Awards nominations:
The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival
for best ensemble acting for the entire cast.
. Airing on CBS
in 1976-77, the TV version changed the fictional corporate setting to the Cardway Corporation in Los Angeles. Mitchell Ryan
starred as company chairman Dan Walling, with Sharon Acker
as his wife, Helen and Leigh McCloskey
and Wendy Phillips
as his children, Brian and Stacey. Other series regulars included Stephen Elliott
, Byron Morrow
, Madlyn Rhue
, William Smithers
, Paul Lambert
, Richard Cox
, Trisha Noble
, Carl Weintraub
, Maxine Stuart
, and Ricardo Montalban
.
Scheduling opposite Monday Night Football
on ABC
and then The Rockford Files
on NBC
doomed the show to poor ratings, and it was canceled after one season.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
depicting the transfer of power in a corporation in trouble. The film stars William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
, Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
, and Walter Pidgeon
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
. It was directed by Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
and produced by John Houseman
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman was an American screenwriter. He received 6 Academy Award nominations during his screenwriting career...
based on the novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley
Cameron Hawley
Cameron Hawley , was an American writer of fiction from Howard, South Dakota. Much of Hawley's output concerned the pressures of modern life, particularly in a business setting. He published numerous novels and short stories.Hawley's novel Executive Suite was the first title published by...
. The cinematography was by George J. Folsey
George J. Folsey
George J. Folsey, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer who worked on 162 films between 1919 and his retirement in 1976....
and the costume design by Helen Rose
Helen Rose
Helen Rose was an American costume designer and clothing designer who spent the bulk of her career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-Career:...
.
It is one of the few Hollywood films with no music whatsoever.
Plot
Avery Bullard, president and driving force of the Tredway Corporation, dies at a critical time. Bullard had lost his way in recent years and the furniture manufacturing company had steadily lost ground to the competition.He had not groomed a successor, so the board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
must vote for his replacement. The frontrunner is the ambitious but unimaginative Loren Shaw, the company Controller concerned more with profitability and satisfying the stockholders than rejuvenating the company. He has the backing of the main shareholder, Julia Tredway, who had been hopelessly in love with Bullard. In addition, "independent" board member George Caswell offers his support in return for certain lucrative considerations.
The only viable alternative is idealistic Vice President for Design Don Walling, who is not even sure he wants the job. He would rather spend his time developing new products and more efficient manufacturing methods, and his wife Mary is strongly against his giving up that dream. Walling is supported by Treasurer Frederick Alderson, Bullard's best friend, who sees Walling as the best hope for saving the company, but fears he might be too young for the job. Jesse Grimm is opposed to Walling for reasons of his own, while Walt Dudley is being blackmailed by Shaw, having been caught by him having an affair.
The machinations, bargaining and maneuvering leading up to the election propel the plot. In the end, Walling's enthusiasm and vision win over Julia Tredway, the others jump on the bandwagon, and he is elected.
Cast
- William HoldenWilliam HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
as McDonald "Don" Walling - Barbara StanwyckBarbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
as Julia O. Tredway - Fredric MarchFredric MarchFredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
as Loren Phineas Shaw - Walter PidgeonWalter PidgeonWalter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
as Frederick Y. Alderson - Paul DouglasPaul Douglas (actor)Paul Douglas was an American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer.-Career:...
as J. Walter Dudley - Louis CalhernLouis CalhernLouis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up...
as George Nyle Caswell - Dean JaggerDean JaggerDean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
as Jesse Q. Grimm - June AllysonJune AllysonJune Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
as Mary Blemond Walling - Nina FochNina FochNina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...
as Erica Martin - Shelley WintersShelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
as Eva Bardeman
Awards and nominations
The film received four Academy Award nominations:- Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Nina Foch)
- Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Cedric GibbonsCedric GibbonsAustin Cedric Gibbons was an Irish American art director who was one of the most important and influential in the field in the history of American film. He also made a great impact on motion picture theater architecture through the 1930s to 1950s, the period considered the golden-era of theater...
, Edward CarfagnoEdward CarfagnoEdward Carfagno was an art director who established himself in the 1950s with his Oscar-winning work on such films as Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful , Joseph Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar and William Wyler's Ben-Hur...
, Edwin B. Willis, Emile KuriEmile KuriEmile Kuri was a Mexican-born American set decorator of Lebanese parentage. He won two Academy Awards and was nominated for six more in the category Best Art Direction....
) - Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
- Best Costume Design
The film also received two BAFTA Awards nominations:
- Best Film from any sourceBAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
- Best ActorBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
(Fredric March)
The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
for best ensemble acting for the entire cast.
TV series
More than two decades later, the film and novel were adapted into a weekly dramatic television seriesTelevision program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. Airing on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1976-77, the TV version changed the fictional corporate setting to the Cardway Corporation in Los Angeles. Mitchell Ryan
Mitchell Ryan
Mitchell Ryan is an American actor most recently known for playing Edward Montgomery on the sitcom Dharma & Greg. He also worked with his on-screen wife from Dharma & Greg, Susan Sullivan, in the short-lived series Julie Farr, M.D..Ryan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville,...
starred as company chairman Dan Walling, with Sharon Acker
Sharon Acker
Sharon Acker is a film, stage and television actress.Acker began her acting career in theater, and made her film debut when she recreated her stage role in Lucky Jim . Her first American film appearance was in the Lee Marvin action film, Point Blank .-Movies:*Lucky Jim .....
as his wife, Helen and Leigh McCloskey
Leigh McCloskey
Leigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...
and Wendy Phillips
Wendy Phillips
Wendy Phillips is an American actress, noted for playing David Selby's last wife, Lauren Daniels, during the final season of Falcon Crest and for playing Gerald McRaney's wife, Claire Greene, on both Touched by an Angel and Promised Land...
as his children, Brian and Stacey. Other series regulars included Stephen Elliott
Stephen Elliott (actor)
Stephen Elliott was an American actor. His best known role was that of crime boss, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur.-Theatre:Elliott's first acting engagement was at the New York Neighborhood Playhouse in 1946...
, Byron Morrow
Byron Morrow
Byron Morrow was an American television and film actor, born in Chicago.His TV work ran from Peter Gunn in 1957 to Father Dowling Mysteries in 1991...
, Madlyn Rhue
Madlyn Rhue
Madlyn Soloman Rhue was an American character actress.Rhue was born in Washington, D.C. From the 1950s to the 1990s, Rhue appeared in some twenty films, including Operation Petticoat and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...
, William Smithers
William Smithers
William Smithers is an American actor, perhaps best known for his recurring role as Jeremy Wendell in the television series Dallas. He appeared in the series in 1981 and from 1984 to 1989...
, Paul Lambert
Paul Lambert (actor)
Paul Lambert was an American character actor who appeared in movies and on television.- Biography :Lambert was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Kansas City. During World War II he was a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces...
, Richard Cox
Richard Cox (actor)
Richard Cox is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Max Frazier on Ghostwriter. Was nominated for Broadway's 1979 Tony Award as Best Actor for Platinum....
, Trisha Noble
Trisha Noble
Patricia Ann Ruth "Trisha" Noble is an Australian singer and actress.-Biography:Noble was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father was comedian and singer Buster Noble and her mother was the entertainer Helen De Paul....
, Carl Weintraub
Carl Weintraub
Carl Weintraub is an American actor who appeared on numerous television shows from the 1970s to the 2000s in addition to several movies....
, Maxine Stuart
Maxine Stuart
Maxine Stuart is a retired American actress. She has appeared in numerous television series, including Chicago Hope, NYPD Blue and Trapper John, M.D.....
, and Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
.
Scheduling opposite Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and then The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
doomed the show to poor ratings, and it was canceled after one season.