Joseph Vogel

Joseph Richard Vogel (September 7, 1895 – March 1, 1969) was an American executive best known for his stint at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including a reign as president from 1956 to 1963.

Biography Vogel was born in New York and attended Townsend Harris High School. He started working part-time as an usher at the Loew's Palace Theatre in Brownsville, Brooklyn and at age 18 was appointed manager of the Fulton Theatre for Loew's. He worked his way up Loew's Theatres and by 1934 was in charge of all their theatres outside New York. In 1939 he became a director of Loew's Inc. and by 1945 became director for all their theatres. However Vogel managed to fight off the takeover attempt and Mayer died of leukemia in 1957.

Vogel and his head of production Sol Siegel initially enjoyed a number of successful years at MGM, green lighting such movies as Gigi (1958), North by Northwest (1959), King of Kings (1961) and most notably Ben-Hur (1959). Gigi and Ben-Hur won the Academy Award for Best Picture back-to-back. He was survived by a wife Lena and son Richard. He was the brother of cinematographer Paul C. Vogel.

In 1959 he was made Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic following completion of Ben-Hur.

Notable films under his presidency The Reluctant Debutante (1958) Imitation General (1958) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Torpedo Run (1958) The Badlanders The Tunnel of Love (1958) Some Came Running (1959) Green Mansions (1959) North by Northwest (1959) Ben-Hur (1959) Never So Few (1959) The Last Voyage (1960) Home from the Hill (1960) Bells Are Ringing (1960) BUtterfield 8 (1960) Where the Boys Are (1960) Cimarron (1960) The Honeymoon Machine (1961) King of Kings (1961) Bridge to the Sun (1961) Bachelor in Paradise (1961) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) Light in the Piazza (1962) Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) Lolita (1962) Ride the High Country (1961) The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) How the West Was Won (1962) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)