Charles P. Skouras
Birth:  1893 Death:  1971 Los Angeles Los Angeles County California, USA Motion Picture Executive. Born in Greece into a family of ten, in 1910, he emigrated to the United States at age 19, working as a bus boy in a St. Louis hotel until he had saved enough after three years to send for his brothers Spyros and George. The trio all continued to work in the hotel doing menial work. They pooled their savings and with 4,000 dollars invested in a local movie house. Soon, the brothers owned every movie theater in St Louis, selling them all to Warner Brothers studios and headed to Hollywood, California. Charles would become owner of National Theaters, Inc. (totaling 650 theaters.) Spyros Skouras would become president of 20th Century Fox while introducing Cinema Scope and overseeing productions of such epics as "Cleopatra" as well as the creation of the high rise area called Century City. George Skouras, the oldest of the trio, became the head of United Artists. In 1932, the Skouras brothers jointly took over the management of over 500 Fox-West Coast theaters. Charles Skouras died at the age of 65 in Los Angeles from a heart ailment but not before making a vow to build, then implemented the construction of a majestic Greek cathedral, if allowed to have success in his Hollywood endeavors. A man of his word, Saint Sophia Greek Cathedral was occupied by its congregation in 1952 and proclaimed in stories across the country in major newspapers and magazines. Charles attended services in a special lighted pew. Upon his death, he was honored with burial in a special crypt on the church property. The classic Charles P. Skouras style is still intact in many theatres. His lavish art deco and Spanish colonial styles with glitzy gold leaf used in construction of the buildings was his trademark. The Boulevard Theatre in Los Angeles where Charles Skouras had his offices, an apartment with a swimming pool and an example of the Skouras "Style" has been razed, but others around the country have been restored and remain. He was the father of Edith Skouras who achieved some success as a movie script writer in the 1930s.     Burial: Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral Los Angeles Los Angeles County California, USA Plot: Crypt, Cathedral grounds