Film academy to house United Artists/MGM archives

MGM is presenting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with much of the storied archives of the United Artists/MGM film studio - reports Reuters.

MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan said Wednesday that MGM will pass along to the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library reams of classic photos, publicity materials and other documents for a new MGM/UA Collection.

The restored photo collection, which will be the Herrick's most extensive, will be displayed and available to scholars at the 80-year-old library. Sloan and Academy president Sid Ganis held a signing ceremony cementing the arrangement.

UA's library contains almost 1,000 movies, including the James Bond franchise and such classic films as "The Apartment," "Annie Hall," "The African Queen," "Rocky," "A Hard Day's Night," "Some Like It Hot," "Raging Bull," "In the Heat of the Night" and "Midnight Cowboy."

Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Mary Pickford founded the artist-run studio in 1919, and over the years iconic stars and filmmakers like Sam Spiegel, John Huston, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, the Beatles, Blake Edwards, Clint Eastwood, Robert Altman, Woody Allen and Brian De Palma have contributed to UA's legacy.

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