Sid Grauman

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Sidney Patrick Grauman (March 17, 1879 – March 5, 1950) was an American showman who created one of Southern California's most recognizable and visited landmarks, Grauman's Chinese Theater.

1 Biography
2 Legacy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

A failed prospector in the Klondike gold rush, he had owned movie theaters in Alaska and Northern California before building three noteworthy Los Angeles movie palaces: the Million Dollar Theater, the Egyptian Theater, and finally the Chinese, noted for its extravagant exterior design and its forecourt containing celebrity hand- and footprints. Grauman's Chinese Theater is now one of the ten most-visited places in Southern California. He died in Los Angeles on March 5, 1950. ^[1]

Was known far and wide among Hollywood's leading stars and was considered to be a close friend to many, including Roscoe Arbuckle. It was in Grauman's office at the Million Dollar Theater that Arbuckle called the San Francisco police to turn himself in.

[edit] Legacy

Grauman received an honorary Academy Award in 1949 for raising the standard for film exhibition. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6379 Hollywood Blvd. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

He was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

One of Grauman's surviving (albeit somewhat distant) relatives is film and television director Walter Grauman, who still lives in Los Angeles.

[edit] References

^ "Sid Grauman Dies. Theatre Owner, 70. 'Immortalized' Movie Stars by Recording Hand and Footprints in Wet Concrete", New York Times, March 6, 1950. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Sid Grauman, showman and theatre owner, who built the Egyptian and Chinese Theatres on Hollywood Boulevard, died today at the age of 70."