Born in Minsk, Byelorussia, Russian Empire (now Belarus). The son of a laborer, he emigrated with his parents to New York as a child. The family then moved to St. John, in New Brunswick, Canada, where Mayer Sr. became a junk dealer and his wife sold chickens door to door. As soon as he had graduated from elementary school, little Mayer joined his father's business, which by now had become a profitable scrap metal operation. In time young Louis set up his own junk business in Boston, where, in 1904, he married the daughter of a local kosher butcher. In 1907, responding to an ad, he bought a small rundown motion picture theater in Haverhill, Mass., at a bargain price. He renovated the auditorium and announced a policy of top-quality films only. Within several years he had bought a number of additional theaters and before long owned the largest theater chain in New England. By 1914 he had branched out into distribution and the following year he made a huge profit out of distributing Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION in the New England area. Mayer next moved into production, with the Alco company (later Metro), which he left in 1917 to form his own production company. He began operations the following year in Los Angeles with one star, Anita Stewart, in a production called VIRTUOUS WIVES. In 1924, Marcus Loew, already in control of Metro, acquired controlling interests in the Goldwyn company and Louis B. Mayer Pictures and merged the three companies into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Mayer was appointed vice president and general manager, a position he retained until 1951, when he was ousted in a power struggle with Dore Schary, his former aide. Under Mayer's leadership, MGM had developed in the 30s into the Tiffany of Hollywood studios, with "more stars than there are in the heavens." A ruthless, quick-tempered, paternalistically tyrannical executive, Mayer ruled MGM as one big family, rewarding obedience, punishing insubordination, and regarding opposition as personal betrayal. He made many enemies during his reign but also many admirers of his indefatigable capacity for work and his total devotion to his studio. He wasn't well read and abhorred intellectualism, but he had an uncanny intuitive sense of mass taste and a knack for selecting and handling personnel. Depending on a brilliant production chief, Irving Thalberg (later succeeded by Hunt Stromberg and Dore Schary), and using the best production talent money could buy, Mayer was assured of the consistently slick product for which MGM became famous. The typical MGM film bore to a large extent Mayer's personal preferences for wholesome escapist entertainment and his moral convictions exalting virtue, patriotism, and family life. In the 30s and 40s, Mayer was the most powerful magnate in Hollywood and his annual salary (plus bonuses), amounting to more than a million and a quarter dollars, was the highest paid any person in the United States. A staunch conservative, he was active in politics and for several years was the California state chairman of the Republican party. He was also very active in industry affairs and instrumental in the founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. After being dethroned as MGM's boss in 1951, Mayer acted as advisor to the Cinerama corporation. He spent the last years of his life in a futile attempt to ferment rebellion among the stockholders of Loew's, Inc., the parent company of MGM, against the corporation's management. Mayer is a subject of a biography by Bosley Crowther, Hollywood Rajah (1960).  Honorary Award 1950: "For distinguished service to the motion picture industry." Winner presented a Statuette. 1 Honorary Award