Irving Thalberg

Thalberg walked the line between commerce and art in transforming the Hollywood system and shifting the balance of power from directors to the studios. Thalberg had his start with Carl Laemmle's Universal Studios, where he took a heavy-handed approach to guiding hits like "Foolish Wives" (1922) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) through production, famously clashing with director Erich von Stroheim on the former. In 1924, Thalberg left …