Henry Blanke

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Blanke (December 30, 1901 – May 28, 1981) was a German-born film producer who also worked as an assistant director, supervisor, writer, and production manager. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Nun's Story (1959).

He was born Heinz Blanke in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany, the son of painter Wilhelm Blanke. He began his career as a film cutter in 1920. Blanke became an assistant to Ernst Lubitsch and was the production manager of Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. He produced nine films in his native Germany before emigrating to Hollywood. He became a power at Warner Bros., working there for decades. Among his Hollywood producing credits are: Of Human Bondage (1946), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and The Fountainhead (1949). When the announced production of The Life of Emile Zola (1937) came under fire from Georg Gyssling, the Nazi German consul to the United States (due to its portrayal of Alfred Dreyfus, who was of Jewish descent), Blanke lied to him, telling him the Dreyfus affair was only a small part of the film.

The Online Archive of California has a transcript of his oral recollections.