Martin 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.