First Artists

First Artists was a production company that existed from 1969-1980, formed by Barbra Streisand, Sidney Poitier, and Paul Newman. Later Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman joined the company.

The company was the brainchild of agent Freddie Fields and aimed to give its principals greater artistic control. It was a subsidiary of Warner Bros..^[1] All founders agreed to make three films for the company, although Poitier ended up making four and Hoffman two.

McQueen and Hoffman found troubles in being with the company. McQueen did not like the politicial left leaning opinions of the company and did not like their constant turndowns of the scripts he liked and wanted to make such as; The Driver (later made with Ryan O'Neal in the starring role) and Rambo, which McQueen had personally wanted to produce and make since the early 70's.^{[citation needed]}

Each actor that worked with the company would Executive Produce the films they starred in and/or their companies would have a hand in the production.

Paul Newman - Newman/Foreman Company, Coleytown Productions, Inc. Steve McQueen - Solar Productions, Inc.

The company went public in 1972 and wound up in late 1979.^[2]

Filmography

• Pocket Money (1972) - Newman
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) - Newman
• Up the Sandbox (1972) - Streisand
• The Getaway (1972) - McQueen
• A Warm December (1973) - Poitier
• Uptown Saturday Night (1974) - Poitier
• The Drowning Pool (1975) - Newman
• Let's Do It Again (1975) - Poitier
• The Gumball Rally (1976)
• A Star is Born (1976) - Streisand
• The Minstrel Man (1977)
• Flight to Holocaust (1977) (TV movie)
• Heaven Has No Favorites (1977)
• A Piece of the Action (1977) - Poitier
• The One and Only (1978)
• An Enemy of the People (1978) - McQueen
• Straight Time (1978) - Hoffman
• Zero to Sixty (1978)
• Stevie (1978)
• Agatha (1979) - Hoffman
• The Main Event (1979) - Streisand
• The Paul Williams Show (1979) (TV series)
• Tom Horn (1980) - McQueen

References

External links

• First Artists at IMDB