David Weisbart

Who was David Weisbart?

David M. Weisbart was an American film editor and producer.

A native of Los Angeles, Weisbart began working in the film industry in 1942 as an editor. Between then and 1951 he was involved with the editing of twenty films, including Mildred Pierce, Night and Day, That Hagen Girl, The Fountainhead, The Glass Menagerie, and A Streetcar Named Desire. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Editing for Johnny Belinda.

In 1952 Weisbart became the youngest producer under contract for Warner Bros. and that year produced his first film, Mara Maru, starring Errol Flynn and Ruth Roman. In 1955 Weisbart produced the film for which he would be most remembered: the James Dean classic, Rebel Without a Cause. He joined 20th Century Fox in the middle of 1956 and the following year produced Love Me Tender, the first Elvis Presley film. Weisbart would produce three more Presley movies as well as April Love for another teen idol, Pat Boone.

Weisbart made his last film, Valley of the Dolls in 1967 before he died at the age of fifty-two in Los Angeles.