- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMartin Harvey Poll
- Martin Poll began his film career by co-producing 11 feature films and producing 39 half-hour episodes of the classic Flash Gordon TV series in Germany and France for international release in a two-year period. In the United States, Poll acquired and reopened the historic Biograph Studio in New York, which had been closed for 20 years. He renamed it Gold Medal Studios and it was the largest studio in the United States outside of Hollywood. At Gold Medal, he presided over such productions as Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, Paddy Chayefsky's The Middle Of The Night starring Kim Novak and Frederic March, as well as The Goddess starring Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges, Butterfield 8 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey and The Fugitive Kind starring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward.
During this time, Poll brought about a renaissance of filmmaking in New York. Location Shooting then was very complicated and clearance took many days as the police department, fire department, sanitation department, etc. had to sign off on each location. He pressured the city and he was made Honorary Film Commissioner to facilitate the location problem. Eventually the Mayor set up a Film Commission.
In 1968, he produced The Lion in Winter (1968), starring Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, which received nine Academy Award nominations and won three. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture, the New York Film Critics Award for Best Picture, two British Academy Awards and the David di Donatello Award in Italy for Best Picture.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- Film Editor Jon Poll is Martin's son
- Actors who made their feature film debuts in films produced by Poll include: Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton and Don Johnson (The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)).
- Martin H. Poll was subscribed and was sworn in as commissionor of Motion Picture Arts of the City of New York July 21, 1959 by the borough president of the Bronx, James J. Lyon. Certificate was signed by Martin H. Poll and James J. Lyon and filed in the office of the City Clerk, July 23, 1959 and signed by the city clerk. Martin is the only individual ever to have that title. He was given that title because of being president of the largest studio outside of Hollywood and the title enabled him to speed up red tape for productions at Gold Medal Studios or anywhere in the city until New York City set up its own one-stop film office.
- He opened the Gold Medal Studios on East 175th Street in the Tremont section of the Bronx in New York City in 1956. It was formerly the Biograph studios. He was head of the studios from 1956 to 1961. In 1959, he was proclaimed "Borough Commissioner of Motion Picture Arts." He sold the studios in 1961 and moved to Los Angeles, California. Production at the site in the Bronx ceased in the 1970s and studio was destroyed by fire in 1980. An apartment building occupies the site.
- He is survived by his son, Jon Poll; his wife, the former Gladys Peltz Poll; another son Mark Poll; a stepson, Tony Jaffe; and three grandchildren.
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