Arthur Freed Quotes

Arthur Freed was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer. Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago. He soon began to write songs, and was eventually hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. For years, he wrote lyrics for numerous films, many set to music by Nacio Herb Brown. His first solo credit as producer was the film version of Rodgers and Hart's smash Broadway musical Babes in Arms, released only a few months after The Wizard of Oz. Two of his films won the Academy Award for Best Picture: An American in Paris and Gigi. On the night that An American in Paris won Best Picture, Freed received an Honorary Oscar, and his version of Show Boat was also up for two Oscars that year, though it lost both to An American in Paris. But what is now his most highly regarded film, Singin' in the Rain, won no Oscars whatsoever, nor was it nominated for more. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.