The Zanucks – father and son movie moguls

• Posted By: Scott Harrison
• Posted On: 12:47 a.m. | July 23, 2012

May 21, 1968: Richard D. Zanuck, left, confers with his father, Fox President Darryl F. Zanuck, at the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., annual meeting.

The next morning Times staff writer Arelo Sederberg reported:

Darryl F. Zanuck, president and chief executive of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., left about 1,100 shareholders smiling and pleased as punch Tuesday at the company’s first annual meeting held in Los Angeles.

He reported a rising dollar amount in first-quarter profits, outlined upcoming motion pictures and television products which he said indicated continuing good times ahead, and lost his temper arguing with a shareholder only once….

Zanuck introduced his son, 33-year-old Richard Zanuck, executive vice president in charge of world-wide production, as a “10-year veteran of the industry and the man primarily responsible” for the production resurgence at Twentieth.

The younger Zanuck, whose yearly salary is well over twice that of this father ($149,615 vs $60,000), outlined the increased lineup of pictures and said in addition that Fox has 7 1/2 hours of prime time on television in the forthcoming season plus 3 1/2 hours of daytime program.

This photo by staff photographer Bruce Cox accompanied Sederberg’s article, but was cropped to a one column headshot of Darryl Zanuck – shown on right. An uncropped version was published in the May 21, 2006, Los Angeles Times 125th Hollywood Commemorative Edition.

The elder Zanuck died in 1979. Richard D. Zanuck died earlier this month after a long and distinguished Hollywood career that included producing the 2010 blockbuster “Alice in Wonderland.” You can read his Los Angeles Times obituary here.

Photo: Copy of Los Angeles Times May 21, 1968, edition with photo cropped to headshot of Darryl F. Zanuck. Credit: ProQuest.