Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. Early career Sam was born to a Jewish family; his father Abe Katzman was a violinist. He and Sam's mother Rebecca (née Sugarman) were from Kishinev, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire (now Chisinău, Moldova). Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry and moved from prop boy to assistant director at Fox Films. He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was a Hollywood producer for more than 40 years. Katzman worked as an assistant to Norman Taurog and got married on the set of The Diplomats in 1928 at Fox. In October 1927 he signed with comic Joe Russo to make a series of two-reel comedies. Screencraft Pictures Katzman was a production supervisor at Showmen's Pictures in the early 1930s, and Screencraft Productions in July 1935. His movies included His Private Secretary (Showmen's, 1933) starring a young John Wayne (made for $9,000 and earned $95,000). They also made Police Call (1933), Ship of Wanted Men (1933), Public Stenographer (1933), and St. Louis Woman (1934). Supreme Pictures He worked as a producer at A. W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures, where he mostly made Westerns starring Bob Steele. Filming started 15 May 1934 with A Demon for Trouble (1934). Other films included Western Justice (1934), The Brand of Hate (1934), Smokey Smith (1935), Tombstone Terror (1935), Trail of Terror (1935), Alias John Law (1935), Big Calibre (1935), Sundown Saunders (1935), Brand of the Outlaws (1936) and The Kid Ranger (1936). Victory Pictures and Puritan Pictures In June 1935 Katzman announced he would make six films written by Peter Kyne for Fox, starting with Danger Ahead. He ended up taking over Bryan Foy's studios at Culver City and doing the films through his own company, Victory Pictures. In 1935 Katzman founded Puritan Pictures, a film distribution group, their first film being Suicide Squad (1935). From 1935 to 1940 Victory produced two serials and 30 features, including Western film series starring Tom Tyler and Tim McCoy, and action pictures with Herman Brix and Bela Lugosi. Katzman also made crime films like Hot Off the Press (1935), Bars of Hate (1935), The Fighting Coward (1935) and Danger Ahead (1935),