In the 1930s and 1940s, the Hollywood studio system was dominated by a handful of men who largely ran their domains on their own and with a firm hand: Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Adolph Zukor (Paramount), Harry Cohn (Columbia), Carl Laemmle (Universal), Jack L. Warner (Warner Bros.), Herbert J. Yates (Republic), Darryl F. Zanuck (Warners in the 1930s and 20th Century-Fox in the 1940s), and, as independent producers, Goldwyn and David O. Selznick. By 1959, all of these men — except Warner — had either died, retired or been forced out of their own companies.
In 1917, he merged his production company with All-Star Feature Films Corp., owned by the brothers Edgar Selwyn and Archibald Selwyn, to found Goldwyn Pictures Corp. The new company's symbol was a reclining lion made of celluloid film strip, designed by Howard Dietz and surrounded by a banner reading "Ars Gratia Artis" ("Art for Art's Sake"). The trademark adorned the front gate of the studio's production facilities in Culver City, CA, which ranked among Hollywood's finest (the original "Leo the Lion" was probably inspired by the stone lions at the New York Public Library on 44th Street, across from the offices of All-Star Feature Corp.). Goldfish liked the name of the new studio so much that he changed his own name to Samuel Goldwyn. In 1922, he was forced to leave the company. In 1924, through a stock swap, it merged with Loew's Inc.'s Metro Pictures to form Metro-Goldwyn, which later merged with Louis B. Mayer Productions to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — even though Goldwyn had nothing to do with the company that bore his name (he took legal action to stop the new company from using it, but lost). Having also been ousted from a company he had previously owned, Goldwyn did not get along well with his partners and remained an independent producer for the rest of his career.
His sayings, sometimes known as "Goldwynisms," were famous for their unintentional wit, partly a result of his limited grasp of the English language when he tried to comment on particular situations. There are many examples of this, such as "Include me out" or "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."
He was the father of Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and Ruth Capps. He was the grandfather of Tony Goldwyn and John Goldwyn.
He was once scheduled to appear as the "Mystery Guest" on the TV quiz show What's My Line? (1950), in which the panelists are blindfolded and must guess the identity of the Mystery Guest. The show's rules required panelists who learned the Mystery Guest's identity before the appearance to disqualify themselves. A few days before his planned appearance, Goldwyn ran into panelist Dorothy Kilgallen at a restaurant and said, "Guess what, Dorothy? I'm going to be on your show Sunday night!" She told him that he now had to disqualify herself because she knew he would be the Mystery Guest. A few days later, Goldwyn ran into Bennett Cerf, another of the show's panelists, and said, "Guess what, Bennett? I did a really stupid thing the other day and told Dorothy I'm going to be on your show Sunday night!" Cerf also had to disqualify himself, resulting in the only double disqualification in the show's history.
When he emigrated to the United States, an Immigration Bureau officer changed his surname from "Gelbfisz" to "Goldfish," which he thought was its English translation. When Sam went into partnership with the producer Edgar Selwyn, he changed it to Goldwyn by combining the first syllable of "Goldfish" with the last syllable of "Selwyn." He initially wanted to do the exact opposite until someone pointed out that this would make his new name "Selfish."
On 09/14/16, he was ousted from Famous Players-Lasky, and two months later, on 11/19/16, he merged Goldwyn Pictures with the brothers Edgar Selwyn and Archibald Selwyn. At this point in his career, he needed the Selwyns, who were highly respected successful Broadway producers with a library of filmable plays. The Selwyns began doing business with him because he had signed a contract with Mabel Normand, the biggest star in films. Two days after resigning from Famous Players-Lasky, on 09/15/16, he had signed a personal contract with her. The contract was to begin after her contract with Mack Sennett expired in 1917. Normand had been voted the best film comedian in a Motion Pictures Magazine readers' poll in July 1916, and doing business with her gave the Selwyns access to her; without her, he probably could not have persuaded them to do business with him. By partnering with him, they gained access to some of Hollywood's finest production facilities and one of its greatest female stars.
His wife, Frances Howard, frequently traveled to New York City to research Broadway productions, scouting for talent in both the acting ranks and the creative teams of a production. On one such trip to see "Lady in The Dark," she discovered Danny Kaye and, upon returning to Hollywood, insisted that her husband put Kaye under contract. After Kaye came to Hollywood, a series of screen tests were conducted to determine the best possible path for his future in the film industry. The biggest problem with his physical appearance was his natural brown hair. When Frances saw these test screenings, she dictated to her husband, "they had to change his hair color!" and told him to change it to red. However, Goldwyn's press agent always insisted that Kaye's strawberry-blond hair was his natural color.
In 2002, he was portrayed on Broadway by actor/comedian/producer Alan King in "Alan King as Mr. Goldwyn." The play focuses on Goldwyn in the early 1950s, when he made Hans Christian Andersen (1952).
In 1917, he founded Goldwyn Pictures Corp.
In 1979, he was inducted into the United States Croquet Hall of Fame.
He produced eight Oscar Best Picture nominees: Arrowsmith (1931), Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Bishop's Wife (1947). "The Best Years of Our Lives" was the only winner in the category.
He was portrayed by Olivier Pierre in RKO 281 (1999), Lee Wallace in The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1980) and Vernon Weddle in Malice in Wonderland (1985).
In 1917, he founded Goldwyn Distributing Corp.
In 1916, he founded Goldwyn Producing Corp.
In his book "Hollywood," Garson Kanin wrote that among the impressive writers Goldwyn employed over his long career were Thornton Wilder, Edna Ferber, Francis Marion, Montague Glass, Joseph Hergesheimer, Elmer Rice, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Morrie Ryskind, Howard Estabrook, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman, William Anthony McGuire, Nunnally Johnson, Willard Mack, Harry Wagstaff Gribble, Preston Sturges, Maxwell Anderson, Mordaunt Shairp, Rachel Crothers, John L. Balderston, Rose Franken, S. N. Behrman, Sonya Levien, Jo Swerling, John Howard Lawson, John Van Druten, Niven Busch, Arthur Kober, Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Paul Gallico, Harry Kurnitz, Leo Rosten, James Thurber, John Patrick, John Collier, Irwin Shaw and Damon Runyon.
On March 27, 1971, Goldwyn was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.
In 1957, Goldwyn was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes.
In the Grateful Dead's "Scarlet Begonias," the line "I ain't often right, but I've never been wrong" appears in the bridge. This resembles Goldwyn's "I'm willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong."
He is mentioned in The Princess and the Pirate (1944).