Charles R. Rogers

SIMPP Member (1945-1957)

Glass slide advertisement for the Goldwyn Pictures release of Elinor Glyn's controversial film "Three Weeks". (Aberdeen Collection). To purchase Aberdeen photos for reprint purposes click here.

Industry veteran Charles R. Rogers also joined SIMPP at the end of World War II. He entered the film industry as an independent exchange operator, and purchased the New York states rights for the controversial smash hit Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks (1924). Rogers served as sales manager at L. J. Selznick's Select Pictures, and then as business partner with Hunt Stromberg before Stromberg went to MGM. In 1928 First National offered him an independent producer contract, and Charles Rogers launched his own company. After moving his operation to the newly-formed RKO, he became temporary head of production during an RKO management crisis in 1931.

When the Laemmles were ousted from Universal in 1935, Charles Rogers was brought in to revive production. He is best remembered for producing Gregory La Cava's My Man Godfrey (1936) and for originating the Deanna Durbin series which carried the company through the tail end of the Great Depression. Rogers returned to independent production in 1938, and by 1941 joined United Artists. He was a well-respected member of SIMPP from 1945 until his fatal car accident in 1957 at age 64.

Charles R. Rogers is not to be mistaken with actor-producer Charles "Buddy" Rogers, the third husband of Mary Pickford.

SOURCES:

Charles R. Rogers: "Charles R. Rogers, Biography," (press release), September 4, 1940, AMPAS; "Injuries Fatal To Film Producer Chas. R. Rogers," Hollywood Citizen-News, March 30, 1957; "Charles Rogers, Producer, 64, Dies," NYT, March 31, 1957; "Charles R. Rogers," DV, April 1, 1957.

See Bibliography.