Daniel Selznick, a former Hollywood producer and executive who was legendary film producer David O. Selznick and theatrical producer Irene Mayer Selznick’s youngest son, died on Thursday. He was 88.
He died of natural causes at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, according to the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Residents of the MPTF said Daniel will be remembered “for his intelligence, charm, sweetness and generosity.”
Born on May 18, 1936, in Los Angeles, Daniel went on to graduate from Harvard University as well as attended the University of Geneva and did graduate work at Brandeis University. He later continued in his family’s footsteps and pursued a career in the entertainment industry, including working as a production executive at Universal Studios for four years.
His father David, who died in 1965, produced dozens of iconic films, including 1939’s Gone with the Wind, 1946’s Duel in the Sun and 1933’s King Kong. His mother Irene, who died in 1990, was the daughter of film mogul Louis B. Mayer and received a Tony Award nomination for the 1955 play The Chalk Garden.
Daniel later produced the Peabody award-winning documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind, alongside his older brother Jeffrey Selznick, who died in 1997. The doc captured how their father created the beloved 1939 film.
Additionally, Daniel produced a handful of other projects, including the TV mini-series Blood Feud, Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War, Night Drive and Reagan’s Way: Pathway to the Presidency, the latter of which he also directed.
He also served for several years as the director of the Louis B. Mayer Foundation. And had success as a theatrical producer, even presenting his stepmother, Jennifer Jones, in a light comedy, The Man with the Perfect Wife.
His memoir, Walking with Kings, which he wrote during his time at the Motion Picture Country Home, is set to be published next year by Alfred Knopf.
Daniel, who was previously married three times, has no immediate survivors.