Martin Ransohoff screenplay collection, M4048

Martin Ransohoff was born on July 7, 1927, in New Orleans. His father, Arthur, was in the coffee business. His mother, the former Babette Strauss, became involved in Republican politics once the family moved to Connecticut when Martin was young.

Mr. Ransohoff graduated from Colgate in 1949 with a degree in history. He worked in advertising, his son said, then for Kodak, which introduced him to the people who were using Kodak film to make the first primitive television commercials.

With Edwin Kasper, Mr. Ransohoff formed the production house Filmways in the early 1950s, focusing at first on the rapidly expanding need for well-made commercials in the early days of television. But by the end of that decade, Mr. Ransohoff was looking at expanding into television and film. Still in his early 30s, he became one of the youngest men to take an entertainment company public when Filmways boarded the American Stock Exchange in 1958.

Filmways became known as the home of such 1960s TV shows as Mister Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and The Addams Family and, through the 1966 acquisition of Heatter-Quigley Productions, the game show The Hollywood Squares.

Adapted from "Martin Ransohoff, 'Cincinnati Kid' Producer and Founder of Filmways TV, Dies at 90" by Mike Barnes (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martin-ransohoff-dead-cincinnati-kid-809533) and "Martin Ransohoff, Producer of TV and Film, Dies at 90" by Neil Genzlinger (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/arts/martin-ransohoff-producer-dies.html)