May 8 - Paramount Pictures

On May 8, 1912, the Famous Players Film Company was founded by Hungarian-born entrepreneur Adolph Zukor, who partnered with two New York theater impresarios. In 1916, he merged the company with two Hollywood firms, which soon became Paramount Pictures. With production led by Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount began to dominate the movie industry. Zukor signed and developed many of the earliest stars, including Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. In the 1960s, Paramount was saved from near-collapse when its young head of production, Robert Evans, produced a long string of major films, including: “Barefoot in the Park” (1967), “The Odd Couple” (1968), “Rosemary's Baby” (1968), “True Grit” (1969), “The Confession” (1970), “Love Story” (1970), “Harold and Maude” (1971), “The Godfather” (1972), “Serpico” (1973), “The Great Gatsby” (1974), “The Conversation” (1974), “Chinatown” (1974), “Marathon Man” (1976) and many others.