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William Fox born Fried Vilmos (in English, Vilmos Fried) (January 1, 1879 - May 8, 1952) was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s. Although, in 1936, Fox sold his interest in these companies to settle bankruptcy, his name lives on in the names of various media ventures, most notably the Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century Fox film studio. Fox was born Vilmos Fried in Tolcsva, Kingdom of Hungary, then part of Austria-Hungary. The house he was born in was identified in... MORE

William Fox born Fried Vilmos (in English, Vilmos Fried) (January 1, 1879 - May 8, 1952) was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s. Although, in 1936, Fox sold his interest in these companies to settle bankruptcy, his name lives on in the names of various media ventures, most notably the Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century Fox film studio. Fox was born Vilmos Fried in Tolcsva, Kingdom of Hungary, then part of Austria-Hungary. The house he was born in was identified in 2008. He came to America at the age of 9 months, where his name was anglicized to William Fox after his mother's family name, Fuchs. He had many jobs, starting at the age of 8. In 1900, he started his own textile company which he sold in 1904 to purchase his first nickelodeon. In 1915, he started Fox Film Corporation. In 1925–26, Fox purchased the rights to the work of Freeman Harrison Owens, the U.S. rights to the Tri-Ergon system invented by three German inventors, and the work of Theodore Case to create the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system, introduced in 1927 with the release of F. W. Murnau's LESS