Felix Jackson

{{Short description|German-born American screenwriter and film producer}}

{{Infobox person

|image =

|imagesize =

|caption =Felix Jackson by Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez for Re:Form School

|birth_name = Felix Raphael Joachimson

|birth_date = {{birth date|1902|06|05}}

|birth_place = Hamburg, German Empire

|death_date = {{death date and age|1993|12|04|1902|06|06}}

|death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

|othername = Felix Joachimson

|occupation = Screenwriter, film producer

|yearsactive =

|spouse = Ellen Levy (19? – 192?) divorced one son Ralph Jackson (formerly Joachimson); Licci Balla (?–1940; divorced)
Jill Jackson (1940–44; divorced; 2 children)
Deanna Durbin (1945–49; divorced; 1 child)
Ilka (?–1992; his death) one son

}}

Felix Jackson (born Felix Raphael Joachimson; June 5, 1902 – December 4, 1992) [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/16/obituaries/felix-jackson-is-dead-film-producer-was-90.html "Felix Jackson Is Dead; Film Producer Was 90", in: The New York Times, December 16, 1992] was a German-born American screenwriter and film and television producer.

Biography

Jackson was born in Hamburg. He was a city editor in Germany at 21, then a dramatic and music critic, and helped manage three theaters in Berlin. He joined Joe Pasternak as a producer in Budapest in 1933.The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, December 7, 1952 He began working in the German film industry, before relocating after the rise of the Nazi party. He moved to Austria and Hungary in the mid-1930s where he frequently collaborated with the director Henry Koster. His screenplay for the 1935 film Little Mother served as the basis for a Hollywood remake Bachelor Mother (1939) which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Jackson moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s, writing the screenplay for Destry Rides Again (1939) a western starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich.Bach p.246 Naturalised U.S. citizen December 13, 1940, he was active in the European Film Fund, which provided support to European emigre filmmakers. He produced several Deanna Durbin films for Universal Pictures and they married in 1945.

In November 1946 he asked for and received his release from Universal.ARGOSY PLANNING 2 'FUGITIVE' FILMS New York Times 9 Nov 1946: 24.

In January 1947 Durbin earned $310,728 for the previous year and Jackson earned $114,875.ABBOTT, COSTELLO TOP INCOME LIST

Los Angeles Times 8 Jan 1947: 2 In January 1948 their lawyer announced the couple had come to "a friendly parting of the ways".Breakdown Silences KFI

Los Angeles Times 6 Jan 1948: A1. In September 1949 she filed for divorce.Seeks Divorce

Chicago Daily Tribune 27 Sep 1949: 18. It was revealed that she and Jackson only lived together for 19 months (they married in June 1945 and she claimed he left her to go live in New York in January 1947). Jackson had been divorced in 1944, 1942 and in Europe.Singer Deanna Durbin Files Divorce Action: Film Actress Asks Daughter's Custody; Charges Mental Cruelty and Desertion

Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 27 Sep 1949: A1.DIVORCE GRANTED TO DEANNA DURBIN: Singing Actress Says Director Husband, Felix Jackson, Left Her and Hollywood

Los Angeles Times 28 Oct 1949: 2.

He joined the advertising agency Young and Rubicam in 1946, heading up its dramatic-television department. He served as executive producer of Pulitzer Prize Playhouse which aired on the ABC television network.The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, December 7, 1952

In his fifties, Felix Jackson published a few novels.[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/16/obituaries/felix-jackson-is-dead-film-producer-was-90.html "Felix Jackson Is Dead; Film Producer Was 90", in: The New York Times, December 16, 1992]