Samuel Bronston
Encyclopedia
Samuel Bronston was a Bessarabia
n-born American film producer
, film director
, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky
. He was also the petitioner in a U.S. Supreme Court
case that set a major precedent for perjury
prosecutions when it overturned his conviction.
Bronston was born in Kishinev
, Bessarabia
, Russian Empire
(present day Moldova
) and educated at the Sorbonne
. He worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
's French
unit in Paris
before setting up as an independent film producer by the 1940s. His first film for his new production company, Samuel Bronston Productions
, was Jack London
, (1943) followed by a series of epic films: John Paul Jones
(1959), King of Kings (1961), El Cid
(1961), 55 Days at Peking
(1963) and The Fall of the Roman Empire
(1964).
He was a pioneer in the practice of locating epic-scale productions in Spain
to reduce the massive costs involved. The success of his films inspired him to help build gigantic studios in Las Rozas near Madrid
.
Bronston frequently worked with a regular team of creative artists: the director Anthony Mann
, the screenwriters Philip Yordan
and Jesse Lasky Jr., the composer Miklós Rózsa
, the co-producers Jaime Prades, Alan Brown and Michal Waszynski
, the cinematographer Robert Krasker
and film editor Robert Lawrence. He also favoured Charlton Heston
and Sophia Loren
as his leading actors.
The cost of the construction of the film studios and the box-office failure of his last epic, The Fall of the Roman Empire combined to leave Bronston in financial difficulties and, in 1964, he had to stop all business activities. Samuel Bronston Productions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
on June 5, 1964 stating he owed a debt of $5,647,758 to his creditor Pierre S. du Pont
. His company declared bankruptcy in June of that year. A petition in August 1964 stated Bronston Distributors, Inc. (a separate company) owed Paramount
$6,750,000 and Pierre S. Du Point $323,191.
Two years later, he was asked under oath
by a lawyer for one of his creditors a series of questions about the many bank accounts the company had had in Europe. One of them concerned whether he had had an account in Switzerland
. "The company had an account in Zurich
for six months", he replied, and answered all other questions concerning Swiss bank
accounts in the negative.
Later, it was discovered that he had indeed had a very active personal bank account in Geneva during the years he had been producing films in Europe. He was convicted of perjury
by federal prosecutors who argued that his answer, while truthful in and of itself, was intended to mislead or evade. After the appeals court
upheld the conviction, Bronston v. United States
reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction on January 10, 1973. Its ruling, that literally truthful yet technically misleading answers cannot be prosecuted as perjury, has formed an important part of jurisprudence on the matter ever since, even being invoked by President Bill Clinton
's attorneys when he was charged with perjury during his impeachment
.
The bankruptcy and criminal prosecution devastated his film career. He completed the 1964
Circus World
with John Wayne
under the production company "Bronson", after which he made only three films, Savage Pampas (1966), filmed in Argentina
with Robert Taylor
, Dr. Coppelius
(1966) and Fort Saganne
(1984), a French film with Gérard Depardieu
and Catherine Deneuve
. A planned epic on the life of Isabella of Spain
never materialised.
In 1962, Bronston was awarded a Special Merit Golden Globe Award
for El Cid.
Bronston died of pneumonia
secondary to Alzheimer's disease
at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California
. He is buried in Las Rozas, Madrid
, Spain. He was survived by a son Dr William Bronston.
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
n-born American film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. He was also the petitioner in a U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case that set a major precedent for perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
prosecutions when it overturned his conviction.
Bronston was born in Kishinev
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(present day Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
) and educated at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
. He worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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...
's French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
unit in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
before setting up as an independent film producer by the 1940s. His first film for his new production company, Samuel Bronston Productions
Samuel Bronston Productions
Samuel Bronston Productions was an independent American film production company, founded by Samuel Bronston in 1943.The company produced several epic films, the most notable of which are, John Paul Jones , King of Kings , El Cid , 55 Days at Peking and The Fall of the Roman Empire .The films were...
, was Jack London
Jack London (1943 film)
Jack London, also known as The Story of Jack London, is a 1943 American biographical film made by Samuel Bronston Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred Santell and produced by Samuel Bronston with Joseph H...
, (1943) followed by a series of epic films: John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (film)
John Paul Jones is a 1959 biographical epic film about John Paul Jones. The film was made by Samuel Bronston Productions and released by Warner Bros. It was directed by John Farrow and produced by Samuel Bronston from a screenplay by John Farrow, Ben Hecht, Jesse Lasky Jr. from the story Nor'wester...
(1959), King of Kings (1961), El Cid
El Cid (film)
El Cid is a historical epic film, a romanticized story of the life of the Christian Castilian knight Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" who in the 11th century fought the North African Almoravides and ultimately contributed to the unification of Spain.Made by Samuel Bronston Productions in...
(1961), 55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...
(1963) and The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)
The Fall of the Roman Empire is a 1964 English-language epic film produced by Samuel Bronston Productions and the Rank Organisation, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston with Jaime Prades and Michal Waszynski as associate producers. The...
(1964).
He was a pioneer in the practice of locating epic-scale productions in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
to reduce the massive costs involved. The success of his films inspired him to help build gigantic studios in Las Rozas near Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
Bronston frequently worked with a regular team of creative artists: the director Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
, the screenwriters Philip Yordan
Philip Yordan
Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who also produced several films.He was also known as a highly regarded script doctor...
and Jesse Lasky Jr., the composer Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
, the co-producers Jaime Prades, Alan Brown and Michal Waszynski
Michal Waszynski
Michał Waszyński was first a film director in his native Poland, then in Italy, and later a producer of the major American films, mainly in Spain...
, the cinematographer Robert Krasker
Robert Krasker
Robert Krasker, A.S.C. was a cinematographer, who worked on more than fifty films in his career.He was born in Perth, Australia andtravelled to England in 1932 via photographic studios in Paris and Dresden...
and film editor Robert Lawrence. He also favoured Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
and Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
as his leading actors.
The cost of the construction of the film studios and the box-office failure of his last epic, The Fall of the Roman Empire combined to leave Bronston in financial difficulties and, in 1964, he had to stop all business activities. Samuel Bronston Productions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
on June 5, 1964 stating he owed a debt of $5,647,758 to his creditor Pierre S. du Pont
Pierre S. du Pont
Pierre Samuel du Pont was president of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 1915 to 1919, and served on its Board of Directors until 1940...
. His company declared bankruptcy in June of that year. A petition in August 1964 stated Bronston Distributors, Inc. (a separate company) owed Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
$6,750,000 and Pierre S. Du Point $323,191.
Two years later, he was asked under oath
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
by a lawyer for one of his creditors a series of questions about the many bank accounts the company had had in Europe. One of them concerned whether he had had an account in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. "The company had an account in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
for six months", he replied, and answered all other questions concerning Swiss bank
Banking in Switzerland
All banks in Switzerland are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority , which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes...
accounts in the negative.
Later, it was discovered that he had indeed had a very active personal bank account in Geneva during the years he had been producing films in Europe. He was convicted of perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
by federal prosecutors who argued that his answer, while truthful in and of itself, was intended to mislead or evade. After the appeals court
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
upheld the conviction, Bronston v. United States
Bronston v. United States
Bronston v. United States, 409 U.S. 352 , is a seminal United States Supreme Court decision strictly construing the federal perjury statute. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for a unanimous Court that responses to questions made under oath that relayed truthful information in and of themselves but...
reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction on January 10, 1973. Its ruling, that literally truthful yet technically misleading answers cannot be prosecuted as perjury, has formed an important part of jurisprudence on the matter ever since, even being invoked by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's attorneys when he was charged with perjury during his impeachment
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
.
The bankruptcy and criminal prosecution devastated his film career. He completed the 1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
Circus World
Circus World (film)
Circus World, also known as Samuel Bronston's Circus World, is a 1964 drama film made by the independent production company Samuel Bronston Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
under the production company "Bronson", after which he made only three films, Savage Pampas (1966), filmed in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
with Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
, Dr. Coppelius
Dr. Coppelius
Dr. Coppelius is a 1966 Spanish English-language comedy film based on the ballet Coppelius directed by Ted Kneeland and featuring Walter Slezak, Claudia Corday, and Terry-Thomas....
(1966) and Fort Saganne
Fort Saganne
Fort Saganne is a 1984 French war film directed by Alain Corneau, based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Louis Gardel. It was screened out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival...
(1984), a French film with Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
and Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
. A planned epic on the life of Isabella of Spain
Isabella of Spain
Isabella of Spain may refer to:* Isabella, Princess of Asturias * Isabella of Castile * Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain * María Isabella of Spain...
never materialised.
In 1962, Bronston was awarded a Special Merit Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for El Cid.
Bronston died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
secondary to Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. He is buried in Las Rozas, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain. He was survived by a son Dr William Bronston.