Irene Mayer Selznick (April 2, 1907-Oct. 10, 1990) was born in Brooklyn to film producer Louis B. Mayer and his wife Margaret Shenberg, who both were the children of immigrants from modern-day Lithuania. The family moved to Hollywood when Irene was 11. Louis established Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. Irene and her sister Edith studied voice with Estelle Liebling, the teacher of Beverly Sills.
She and producer were married in 1940 and had two sons, Lewis and Daniel, who both became film producers. The couple separated in 1945 and divorced in 1949. In between those dates, she moved to New York City to focus on legitimate theatre. She produced for Broadway A Streetcar Named Desire, which was Marlon Brando’s break-out role. In 1955, she produced The Chalk Garden, which netted her a Tony Award.
In 1983, Selznick published her autobiography, A Private View. She died in New York in 1990 from breast cancer complications. Her body was interred next to her mother’s in a mausoleum at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Tomorrow, April 3: Leslie Howard
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