Hal B. Wallis

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Hal B. Wallis (September 14, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American motion picture producer.

Born Harold Brent Wallis in Chicago, Illinois, his family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros. in 1923.

Within a few years, Wallis became involved in the production end of the business and would eventually become head of production at Warners. In a career that spanned more than fifty years, he was involved with the production of more than 400 feature-length movies.

Among the many great movies he produced was Casablanca, one of the most honored movies in Hollywood history. Wallis left Warner Bros. in 1944 to work as an independent producer, enjoying considerable success including a number of highly successful and acclaimed movies as well as the production of several of the Elvis Presley movies.

He was nominated for seven Golden Globe awards, winning twice for Best Picture, plus in 1974 he received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. Hal Wallis received sixteen Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, winning for Casablanca in 1943. For his consistently high quality of motion picture production, he was twice honored with The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

Hal Wallis was married twice : to the actress Louise Fazenda and to the actress Martha Hyer (1966-1986)

He died in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 88. He is interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.