James T. Aubrey, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJames T. Aubrey
American film and TV executive
Date of Birth: 14-Dec-1918
Place of Birth: LaSalle, Illinois, United States
Date of Death: 03-Sep-1994
Profession: film producer
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius 
About James T. Aubrey
- James Thomas Aubrey Jr.
- (December 14, 1918 – September 3, 1994) was an American television and film executive.
- As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, he, with his "smell for the blue-collar", put some of television's most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies.
- Under Aubrey, CBS dominated American television, leading the other two networks, NBC and ABC, by nine points.
- The New York Times Magazine in 1964 called Aubrey "a master of programming whose divinations led to successes that are breathtaking".
- Under Aubrey's leadership, CBS's profits skyrocketed from $25 million in 1959 to $49 million in 1964. Aubrey replaced CBS Television president Louis Cowan, who was slowly dismissed after the quiz show scandals.
- Despite his successes in television, Aubrey's abrasive personality and oversized ego – "Picture Machiavelli and Karl Rove at a University of Colorado football recruiting party" wrote Variety in 2004 – led to his firing from CBS amid charges of improprieties.
- "The circumstances rivaled the best of CBS adventure or mystery shows," declared The New York Times in its front-page story on his firing, which came on "the sunniest Sunday in February" 1965.
- He earned the nickname "Smiling Cobra" for his brutal decision-making ways.
- Aubrey governed CBS with a firm grip, and it did not go unnoticed.
- He was suddenly dismissed in February 1965.
- Aubrey offered no explanation following his dismissal, nor did CBS President Frank Stanton or Board Chairman William Paley.
- After four years as an independent producer, Aubrey was hired by financier Kirk Kerkorian in 1969 to preside over Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's near-total shutdown, during which he slashed the budget and alienated producers and directors but brought profits to a company that had suffered huge losses.
- In 1973, Aubrey resigned from MGM, declaring his job was done, and then vanished into almost total obscurity for the last two decades of his life. Hollywood executive Sherry Lansing, a close friend of Aubrey's for two decades, told the Los Angeles Times in 1986: Jim is different.
- He does his own dirty work.
- Jim is one of those people who are willing to say, "I didn't like your movie." Directness is disarming to people who are used to sugar-coating.
- It's tough for people who need approval to see somebody who doesn't.
- Myths and legends begin to surround that kind of person.
Read more at Wikipedia