Jack Cummings

John Cummings (February 16, 1905 – April 28, 1989) was an American film producer and director. He was best known for being a leading producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was the third husband of Betty Kern, daughter of Jerome Kern. Cummings spent most of his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; his uncle, Louis B. Mayer initially hired his nephew in the 1920s as an office boy and expected him to work his way up through the ranks. Cummings became a staff producer at MGM in 1934, where he worked in the B-feature unit for two years. In 1936, he produced the extravagant Cole Porter musical Born to Dance, which established his reputation as a respected producer. Cummings remained at MGM even after his uncle was fired as head of the studio in 1951. Over the years, Cummings worked with talent such as the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, and Fred Astaire, producing some of the era's best-known musicals, including 1953's Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954, for which he received an Academy Award nomination... ()