Samuel Louis "Sam" Warner

 Samuel Louis "Sam" Warner (August 10, 1887 – October 5, 1927)

Warner was a film producer who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Studios. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry, Albert, and Jack L. Warner. Sam Warner is credited with procuring the technology that enabled Warner Bros. to produce the film industry's first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer. He died in 1927, the day before the film's enormously successful premiere. When Warner Bros. was incorporated in 1923, Sam was appointed the company's Chief Executive Officer. In 1926 he formed a subsidiary, Vitaphone, in association with Western Electric to develop a sound-on-disc system for motion pictures. Its initial releases, a series of musical shorts and the feature-length "Don Juan" (which had a synchronized music track), met with a tepid response and Harry grew increasingly opposed to the venture. However, Sam pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature, based on a Broadway play and starring Al Jolson. In September 1927, Jack —who was working nonstop with Sam on production of The Jazz Singer—noticed that his brother started having severe headaches and nosebleeds. By the end of the month, Sam was unable to walk straight. He was hospitalized and was diagnosed with a sinus infection that was aggravated by several abscessed teeth. Doctors also discovered that Warner had developed a mastoid infection of the brain. After four surgeries to remove the infection, Warner slipped into a coma, and died on October 5, 1927. He is interred at Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles, CA.