Adolph Zukor (1873-1976) was born in Ricse, Hungary. He emigrated to the United States in 1888 and entered the fur business, working his way up from cutter to Chicago shop owner to New York factory manager. Zukor's entertainment career started in New York with penny arcades, Kinetoscopes, and Hale's Touring Cars. In 1912 Zukor imported the French feature film QUEEN ELIZABETH, starring Sarah Bernhardt, and used it to launch the Famous Players Film Company. Famous Players merged with the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1916 to form Famous Players-Lasky, which acquired a controlling interest in Paramount Pictures. Zukor was president of Paramount until 1935, when the company was reorganized; he remained a figurehead (chairman of the board emeritus) until his death. He was honored by the Academy with a Special Award (1948) for his service to the film industry.