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Spyros Panagiotis Skouras (; March 28, 1893 – August 16, 1971) was a Greek American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962. He resigned June 27, 1962, effective September 30. An immigrant to America from Greece, his accent was so pronounced that Bob Hope would joke "Spyros has been here twenty years but he still sounds as if he's coming next week." Skouras oversaw the production of such epics as ''Cleopatra'' (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor, as well as the creation of Century City. Charles P. Skouras III was his grandchild, who has also become a successful film and television executive, as well as his great granddaughter who also followed in Spyros footsteps and has produced over twenty five television shows and created reelz channels number one hit show Beverly Hills Pawn. ==The early years== Born in Skourohorion, Greece, Skouras along with his brothers Charles Skouras and George Skouras emigrated to America in 1910. They finally settled in St. Louis, Missouri, at that time the fourth largest city in America. The sons of a poor sheep herder later rose even higher to become top movie executives in some of Hollywood's biggest studios. Living frugally on wages as busboys and bartenders in downtown hotels, the brothers pooled their savings of $3,500 in 1914. In partnership with two other Greeks, the Skourases constructed a modest nickelodeon at 1420 Market Street on the site of today's Kiel Opera House. This initial property, named the Olympia, was quickly followed by the acquisition of other theaters. The brothers incorporated in 1924 with $400,000 capital stock. By then more than thirty local theaters belonged to the Skouras Brothers Co. of St. Louis. The biggest moment for the Skouras empire came when their dream of building a world-class movie palace in downtown St. Louis was grandly realized in 1926 when the $5.5 million Ambassador Theatre Building opened. In 1929, following the depression, the triumvirate sold out their interest to Warner Brothers and moved east to claim top executive places in the industry. From 1929 to 1931, Spyros worked as a general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. During these hard years, with the depression running amok, Spyros managed to eliminate losses and eventually quadrupled the profits of the chain. Despite this success, his wish to be his own boss again, made him voluntarily leave the company. After that, and for a short while, he works as a manager in Paramount. In 1932, the Skouras Brothers (Charles, Spyros and George) took over the management of the Fox West Coast Theater chain, with over 500 theaters. Once again, the threat of bankruptcy threatened one of Hollywood's early film studios. The three brothers did what they could to stave off a disaster. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spyros Skouras」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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