A long time ago, Hollywood movie studios developed a method to hire actors for a long-term period, with the goal of guaranteeing success for their movies. This was called the star system, and those contracts were huge and complex, ending up in the studios controlling the actors' life. And how did it work? Well, let's check the background first. In the 20s, sound was first introduced to film, and the industry was booming.
The patent war against Edison encouraged producers to move to California, which gave birth to Hollywood. a place where they intended to produce films in high scale and develop a production standard pipeline. That pipeline was created by the owners of the big six companies Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, MGM, Universal Studios and the disappeared RKO.
This also inspired on the Broadway method to develop actors in theater in the 19th century and that was named the studio system. It had a lot of success and kicked off the golden age of Hollywood. It was based on the principles of business efficiency, economic rationalization, and hiring employees for a long-term period under exclusivity contracts. If an actor was signed, it meant that he or she was introduced into the star system, which meant really changing his or her life forever. Examples here are actresses like Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo, and Rock Hudson.
After an actor was hired, the studio crew began to work with them to develop them into true celebrities. The intention was to spread an idealized image of the actor to the audience. Back then, a movie's success depended on the popularity of the cast much more than on the story itself.
So for that reason, studios wanted to have a cast with demigod fame in their movies, to use them as the primary tool to promote their film. This is when names of actors started appearing prominently on movie posters. Florence Lawrence was the first actress signed for that purpose, and audiences began to flock to cinemas to see her. Companies used to come up with background origin stories for their stars, and even changing their names like in the case of Michael Landon, who was born as Eugene Orwitz, and Norma Jane Baker, who was renamed to Marilyn Monroe. The company monitored the actor's life and public behavior to keep their preferred reputation.
Women were expected to behave like ladies and have a neat appearance with stylish clothes, and men were supposed to act like gentlemen in public spaces. Also, the studios arranged sham dates between single celebrities, and then gossip columns on the tabloids were tipped off about it. So a lot of photographers went there to capture those romantic moments. It was just free advertising.
All this because the audience didn't expect a great story on the screen. They just wanted to watch their stars reflecting their reputation in their movie role. For example, John Crawford often played roles of hard-working young women who found romance and success, so her public life had to reflect that too. Same with Michael Landon. His roles as Joel Cartwright in Bonanza and Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Pear.
had something in common. It's about a good-natured family countryman, his community and his noble job, so the actor's lifestyle should fit into that. Another significant example was Monroe and her roles as femme fatale.
Same with Greta Garbo and Marlon Brando. We can spend hours showing you examples. Charlie Sheen comes to mind when we talk about actors whose behavior reflects their roles. The case of Robert Downey Jr. and his Iron Man role is an excellent example of the star system in a more recent age. If an actor failed against the morality clause and was caught on drug use, divorce, adultery, or drinking problems Hello again, Charlie Sheen The company is used to fix the problem by paying hush money to the witnesses and promising future exclusive stories to the gossip journalists Casting put more emphasis on their image rather than their acting skills The contract included acting, singing, and dancing lessons and after a few years Studios had shaped a team of triple-a actors working exclusively for the studio.
Under this system Legendary movies like The Wizard of Oz were developed. Also, It's a Wonderful Life, probably the best rated Christmas movie ever. The cult film Casablanca was produced by Warner Brothers and won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 1944. And Citizen Kane, made by the mythical Arsene Wells, is considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the best film ever made. Studio companies also used to swap workers, actors included, for upcoming prestige productions. However, Stars that pursued exchanges by themselves or were selective about the movie roles were censored and punished by the studio.
Olivia the Havilland eventually won a lawsuit against her studio to break free of their gag orders and Marilyn Monroe conditioned her comeback to 20th Century Fox only if the company yielded on her contract demands. Those incidents fostered the idea among actors that a free agent system would be more beneficial to them rather than a suffocating way of work. This led the star system to its decline in the 60s and mostly disappearing in the 70s, thanks to the changes occurred in entertainment, culture, labor, and news.