Harry Sherman(1884-1952)

American producer of 1930s and 1940s Westerns whose chief claim to fame is introduction of the character Hopalong Cassidy to the screen. Sherman was originally an exhibitor. In 1914, he distributed the film The Birth of a Nation (1915) in the western United States and parlayed the connections he made into a position as a studio producer. In 1935, he formed Harry Sherman Productions to produce films based on Clarence Mulford's Hopalong Cassidy character. He made over fifty of the sixty six Cassidy films, as well as dozens of other pictures, most of them Westerns as well. Like John Ford, Sherman had his own stock company of players, many of whom graduated to real stardom from their beginnings with Pop Sherman. Among them: George 'Gabby' Hayes, Victor Jory, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Dix, George Reeves, Robert Mitchum, and Albert Dekker. Sherman managed to produce his high quality films on a reasonable budget, then released them through prestigious companies such as United Artists and Paramount Pictures. After leaving the Cassidy films (which were taken over and henceforth produced by star William Boyd), Sherman produced a couple of larger budgeted Westerns before his death following surgery in 1952. His daughters Lynn Sherman and Teddi Sherman were actors in his films, and Teddi Sherman went on to a respected career as a screenwriter, mainly of Westerns.