Movie Producer, Developer, Philantropist. Skirball attended the University of Cincinnati and Western Reserve College in Cleveland then went on to study for the rabbinate at Hebrew Union College. After his ordination in 1921, he served as an assistant rabbi in Cleveland for two years and rabbi of a temple in Evansville, Indiana, for seven years. In 1933, he left the congregation to become the manager of Educational Films Corp. where he produced ‘Birth of a Baby’, the first motion picture to show the actual birth of a child. This cinematic landmark became instantly famous, earning nine pages of coverage in Life Magazine. He then formed Skirball Productions which was responsible for classics such as Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur’ (1942) and ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ (1943). His credits in the 1940s and ’50s also included ‘The Howards of Virginia’ starring Cary Grant, ‘Payment on Demand’ featuring Bette Davis, ‘This Woman Is Mine’ with Franchot Tone and ‘Bride For Sale’ starring Claudette Colbert. He continued to produce until 1976, when he teamed Liza Minnelli and Charles Boyer in ‘A Matter of Time’. Skirball invested his film profits into developments, primarily one of the world’s most successful family resorts, the 43-acre Vacation Village in San Diego which opened in 1962 and sold in 1983 for a reported $51 million. That same year Skirball provided the funding for the development of a new cultural center in Los Angeles, The Skirball Cultural Center, which was named in his honor, as is the Jack H. Skirball Middle School in South Central Los Angeles.   (bio by: Louis M.)  Family links:  Spouse:  Audrey Marx Skirball-Kenis (1914 – 2002)* *Calculated relationship