Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle, born Karl Lämmle, was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. He was born in 1967 in the Jewish quarter of Laupheim, in the Kingdom of Württemberg (now Germany) and emigrated to the United States in 1883 following his mother’s death. He lived in Chicago for about twenty years as a bookkeeper and office manager before buying nickelodeons starting in 1906. This eventually expanded into a film distribution service. He then started producing films and was one of the founders and the first president of Universal Film Manufacturing Company (later renamed Universal Pictures Company).