Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 19, 2026

David Weisbart

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

Last revised
Jun 19, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
689 w
Citations
8
Source
Wikipedia ↗
David Weisbert
Weisbart in 1967
Born(1915-01-21)January 21, 1915
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJuly 21, 1967(1967-07-21) (aged 52)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationsFilm editor and producer

David M. Weisbart (January 21, 1915 – July 21, 1967) was an American film editor and producer.

Early life

Weisbart was born in Los Angeles. He graduated in 1932 from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and was President of his graduating class.

Career

Weisbart began working as a film editor for Warner Bros. in 1942. Over the next decade, he was involved in the editing of some twenty films, including The Constant Nymph (1943), Mildred Pierce (1945), Night and Day (1946), Dark Passage (1947), The Fountainhead (1949), The Glass Menagerie (1950), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).1 He was nominated for the Academy Award for editing Johnny Belinda (1948).2

Producer

In 1952, Weisbart became a producer, the youngest under contract to Warner Bros. That same year he produced his first film, Mara Maru, starring Errol Flynn and Ruth Roman. In 1955 he produced the film for which he is probably best remembered: the James Dean classic, Rebel Without a Cause.

Weisbart left Warner Bros. for 20th Century Fox, where he produced Love Me Tender (1956), the first Elvis Presley film. Weisbart would produce three more Presley movies, as well as April Love (1957) for another teen idol, Pat Boone.

With Samuel A. Peeples, Weisbart created the television series Custer, also known as The Legend of Custer, which ran on ABC for seventeen episodes in 1967.

On July 21, 1967, Weisbart died of what was apparently heart failure; he collapsed while playing golf with film director Mark Robson on a Los Angeles golf course. He was 52, and was survived by his wife and two daughters.3

Death

At the time of his death, Weisbart was producing the high-profile Valley of the Dolls, based on the novel by Jacqueline Susann. He died while on the golf course with director Mark Robson.4

The film was released in December 1967. Although it received scathing reviews, it was 20th Century Fox's biggest box office hit of the year.5 At the time of his death, Weisbart was preparing a film version of Irwin Wallace's The Plot.4

Journalist Bob Freund called him "one of the finest gentlemen in the industry."6 Norma Lee Browning called him "one of the unsung heroes of movie making."4

Select filmography

Editor

Producer

Warner Bros

20th Century-Fox

United Artists
References

References

  1. David Weisbart (1915–1967). IMDb. [n.d.] Accessed January 6, 2017.
  2. The Official Academy Award Database. Archived February 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine [n.d.] Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  3. David Weisbart, 52, Producer of Movies. The New York Times, July 22, 1967. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  4. Browning, Norma Lee (August 3, 1967). "The movies had an unsung hero!". Chicago Tribune. p. 47.
  5. Valley of the Dolls (1967). IMDb. [n.d.] Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  6. Freund, Bob (August 1, 1967). "David Weisbart's death sad blow to movieland". Fort Lauderdale News. p. 9.