Mirisch Company

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The Mirisch Company is a film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The Mirisch brothers had controlled production at Allied Artists before going independent.

The new company was founded in August 1957. It produced many famous motion pictures, including Some Like It Hot (1959) , The Apartment (1960), The Magnificent Seven (1960), West Side Story (1961), The Great Escape (1963), The Pink Panther (1963), In the Heat of the Night (1967), and many others.

The company signed a 12-picture deal with United Artists (UA) in 1957, which was extended to 20 films two years later. UA acquired the company in 1963, but the Mirisch brothers continued to work there and in rented space at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio.

They forged relationships with such directors as Billy Wilder, Blake Edwards, John Sturges and Norman Jewison, who directed three consecutive successes for them - The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).

The company is also known as the Mirisch Pictures, Inc., Mirisch Corporation and Mirisch Production Company.