Biography
Charles Bluhdorn — industrialist with roots in the Russian Empire
Charles Bluhdorn was an Austrian-American businessman who built Gulf+Western Industries into a major conglomerate and acquired Paramount Pictures in 1966, presiding over its golden age — The Godfather, Chinatown, Serpico — as the studio's ferocious chairman.
Russian Connection
Tracing the roots — Empire
Born in Vienna to Russian-Jewish parents who had settled in Austria, Bluhdorn arrived in the US in 1942 as a teenage refugee. His parents' Russian roots and the family's survival of European upheaval gave the relentlessly aggressive businessman the immigrant drive that powered one of Hollywood's most creative decades.
Family Tree
Subject
Charles Bluhdorn🇺🇸 USA
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Paramount (Owner)
Vienna (Rus Parents)
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Origin
Empire🇷🇺
Key Achievements
A career defined by ambition
01
Acquired Paramount Pictures (1966)
02
Greenlit The Godfather (1972), Chinatown (1974), The Conversation (1974)
03
Built Gulf+Western into a Fortune 500 conglomerate
04
Oversaw Paramount's New Hollywood golden era of the 1970s
05
Developed sugar industry in Dominican Republic
"I'm a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more I have of it. (attributed)"
Charles Bluhdorn
Sources