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| yearsactive = 1929–1968
| spouse = Dorothy Darrell (m. 1942)
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==Biography==
===Early life===
He was born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, [[Austria-Hungary]] (now [[Șimleu Silvaniei]],
In 1920, he emigrated to the
===Assistant
In 1922, Pasternak gained a job as a busboy at [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]'s [[Kaufman Astoria Studios|Astoria studio]] in Queens, New York City at $8 a week; after a year, he was head waiter and making $120
He worked as an assistant director on ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)|The Phantom of the Opera]]'' (1925) and ''[[It's the Old Army Game]]'' (1926).
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After seeing her in the short ''[[Every Sunday]]'' (1936), Pasternak cast 14-year-old Canadian singer [[Deanna Durbin]] in ''[[Three Smart Girls]]'' (also 1936), directed by Koster. The film became a huge hit and reputedly saved Universal from bankruptcy.<ref name="cinderella"/><ref>{{cite news|author=Staff Writer |date=Jan 17, 1937|title=Design for Producing|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|101997453}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Scheuer, P. K. |date=Feb 9, 1965|title=Koster got start sitting under tre|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|155129220}}}}</ref> He followed it with two more Durbin films, ''[[One Hundred Men and a Girl]]'' (1937), directed by Koster, and ''[[Mad About Music]]'' (1938), directed by [[Norman Taurog]]. In 1938, Pasternak did a comedy, ''[[Youth Takes a Fling]]'', then was back with Durbin for ''[[That Certain Age]]'' (1938), and ''[[Three Smart Girls Grow Up]]'' (1939). In all, Pasternak made ten films with Durbin.<ref>{{cite news|last=Folkart|first=Burt A.|url=https://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-17/news/mn-2722_1_joe-pasternak|title=Film Producer Joe Pasternak Dies at 89|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 17, 1991|access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref>
Pasternak soon discovered
Pasternak alternated
In June 1941, after finishing ''Eve'', Pasterrnak left Universal. Although he still had two years to run on his contract, he had "differences of opinion" with the studio's management, and by mutual consent, the parties elected to terminate the contract.<ref name="leave" />
===MGM===
In June 1941, Pasternak announced he had joined [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] as a producer for a reported $3,500
At MGM, he continued to produce operetta films, starting with ''[[Seven Sweethearts]]'' (1942) starring Grayson, and ''[[Presenting Lily Mars]]'' (1943) starring [[Judy Garland]]. Both films were successful at the box-office.<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.</ref> Pasternak followed these with ''[[Thousands Cheer]]'' (1943) with Grayson and [[Gene Kelly]], which was a huge hit; ''[[Song of Russia]]'' (1944), a musical which later became problematic because of its pro-Russian viewpoint; ''[[Two Girls and a Sailor]]'' (1944) with [[June Allyson]], [[Van Johnson]] and [[Gloria DeHaven]], and ''[[Music for Millions]]'' (1944) with Allyson and [[Margaret O'Brien]]. All these films were hits.
Pasternak was responsible for [[Esther Williams]]' first
In 1948, Pasternak had
Pasternak bounced back with ''[[In the Good Old Summertime]]'' (1949) with Garland and Johnson, and introduced [[Mario Lanza]] in ''[[That Midnight Kiss]]'' with Kathryn Grayson, which was a solid hit. ''[[Nancy Goes to Rio]]'' with Powell, a remake of ''It's a Date'', made a minor loss. In 1950, ''[[The Toast of New Orleans]]'' with Grayson was a solid hit, as was ''[[Duchess of Idaho]]'' with Williams. Pasternak produced the final Judy Garland film at MGM, ''[[Summer Stock]]'' in 1950, co-starring Gene Kelly, and then had the biggest hit of his career to date with ''[[The Great Caruso]]'' (1951), a vehicle for [[Mario Lanza]] which made almost $4 million in profit for the studio.<ref name="Mannix"/> After the popular ''[[Rich, Young and Pretty]]'' (1951) with Powell, Pasternak made a film noir with [[Mickey Rooney]], ''[[The Strip (1951 film)|The Strip]]'' (1951) which flopped.
Pasternak again tried a drama, this time with Turner, ''[[Flame and the Flesh]]'' (1954), but it was not a notable success. However, ''[[The Student Prince (1954 film)|The Student Prince]]'' (1954) with [[Ann Blyth]] and [[Edmund Purdom]] miming to Mario Lanza singing, was a huge success. Pasternak did ''[[Hit the Deck (1955 film)|Hit the Deck]]'' (1955) with Powell, [[Vic Damone]] and [[Debbie Reynolds]], which was popular but failed to recoup its cost. ''[[Athena (1954 film)|Athena]]'' in 1955 with Powell, Reynolds, Damone and Purdom, was a straight out flop. ''[[Meet Me in Las Vegas]]'' (1955) with Charisse was well received, but failed to recoup its cost.
The industry was changing, and musicals were becoming increasingly unprofitable for MGM. Conversely, a tough biopic Pasternak produced about [[Ruth Etting]], ''[[Love Me or Leave Me (film)|Love Me or Leave Me]]'' (1955), starring [[Doris Day]] and [[James Cagney]], was a hit. In 1956, Pasternak published his memoir
===Euterpe===
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Pasternak set up Euterpe back at MGM. He was an immediate success, turning out four hits in a row: a highly regarded thriller, ''[[Party Girl (1958 film)|Party Girl]]'' (1958), with [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]] and [[Cyd Charisse]]; two comedies with [[David Niven]]: ''[[Ask Any Girl (film)|Ask Any Girl]]'' (1959) with [[Shirley MacLaine]] and ''[[Please Don't Eat the Daisies (film)|Please Don't Eat the Daisies]]'' (1960) with Day; and a teen comedy, ''[[Where the Boys Are]]'' (1960), which introduced a group of new stars: [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]], [[Dolores Hart]], [[Yvette Mimieux]], [[Connie Francis]], [[Jim Hutton]], and [[Paula Prentiss]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Hedda Hopper |date=Jul 3, 1959|title=Looking at Hollywood: Joe Pasternak to Film College Vacation Tale|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=Section a4}}</ref>
In the 1960s, Pasternak produced a mix of hits and misses. He reunited Hutton and Prentiss in ''[[The Horizontal Lieutenant]]'' (1962), but it was not as popular as ''Boys''. Then he had a failure with ''[[Billy Rose's Jumbo]]'' (1962) starring Day, which lost almost $4 million.<ref name="Mannix"/> However, Pasternak responded with a comedy starring [[Glenn Ford]], ''[[The Courtship of Eddie's Father (film)|The Courtship of Eddie's Father]]'' (1963) that was a hit; the film featured Ronny Howard (later known as [[Ron Howard]]), showing the producer still retained an ability to discover young performers. Less successful was ''[[A Ticklish Affair]]'' (1963) with [[Shirley Jones]] and ''[[Looking for Love (film)|Looking for Love]]'' (1964) with Francis and Hutton. He did a poorly-received musical with [[Ann-Margret]] (in a part turned down by Doris Day), ''[[Made in Paris]]'' (1966), then made two [[Elvis Presley]] films co-starring [[Shelley Fabares]], ''[[Girl Happy]]'' (1965) and ''[[Spinout (film)|Spinout]]'' (1966), both of which made money. He also did a [[Natalie Wood]] comedy ''[[Penelope (1966 film)|Penelope]]'' (1966), which was a box-office disappointment.
Pasternak produced the 1965, 1966 and 1967 Academy Awards. In 1966 he was honored with a retrospective of his work.<ref>{{cite news|author=V. C. |date=Jul 12, 1966|title=To Joe Pasternak, Froth is Success|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|117427117}}}}</ref>
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Pasternak is the father of Michael Joseph Pasternak, the radio disk jockey known as [[Emperor Rosko]]; Jeff Pasternak, a playwright and songwriter; and Peter Pasternak, a music industry professional. He was married to Dorothy.
Pasternak also
==Death and tribute==
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* ''[[Secret Agent (1932 film)|Secret Agent]]'' (1932)
* ''[[The Invisible Front]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Romance in Budapest]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Scandal in Budapest]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Peter (1934 film)|Peter]]'' (1934)
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[[Category:Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery]]
[[Category:Hungarian film producers]]
[[Category:
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States]]
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