10250 Constellation Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA. 90067
310.449.3000
Map link: MGM Studios
MGM Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) was born in 1924. Metro came from an early film company, which belonged to Marcus Loew, Goldwyn came from the producer Samuel Goldwyn and Mayer came from the producer Louis B. Mayer. In 1939, MGM gave us two of the classics of all time: Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. In 1959, the studios gave us Ben Hur. Then a young man signed up with MGM named Mickey Rooney and made seventeen Andy Hardy movies. The list goes on to include: Marx Brothers, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Lucille Ball, Jean Harlow, Laurel & Hardy, Esther Williams, Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo, Red Skeleton, Bette Davis, Jimmy Durante, Margaret O'Brien, Donna Reed, Robert Young, Lana Turner, Jane Powell, Wallace Beery & Marjorie Main, Peter Lawford, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Paul Newman, Kathryn Grayson, Hedy Lamarr, Mario Lanza, Greer Garson, Angela Lansbury, Rosalind Russell, Robert Taylor and Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn, and much, much more.
The company was bought by Kirk Kerkorian, who auctioned off some of the pieces of the history of the studio acres and possessions. Kerkorian used the money from the studio to construct MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. MGM moved to a new location in Century City and in Santa Monica buildings.
In 1979, he issued a statement saying that MGM was primarily a hotel company. After acquiring United Artists in 1981 and re-naming the company MGM/UA, he sold the film library to Ted Turner for his cable TV channel. In 2004, MGM will merge with Sony Corp of America for $5 billion. The acquisition is mainly for the library of films, including the franchises of James Bond, the Pink Panther and Rocky, since Sony already owns the lot.