1940s - The Independent Years
In the 1940s, Lasky launched a series of screen biographies: Rhapsody in Blue, Sergeant York, and The Adventures of Mark Twain. Sergeant York became a box-office smash and earned Gary Cooper an Academy Award.
The Lasky home at 121 Saltair in Brentwood, California
The Lasky family (minus Jesse Jr.) circa early 1940s: Jesse, Betty, Bessie, and Billy
Lasky introduces Gary Cooper, the star of Sergeant York,
to the real-life Sergeant York, circa 1941
to the real-life Sergeant York, circa 1941
1948: Jesse and daughter Betty at her wedding to William Bidlack
Betty Lasky with her father at her marriage to William Clymer Bidlack in 1948
Lasky with star Frederic March during the filming of The Adventures of Mark Twain, circa 1943
Lasky hosts a farewell party in 1943 at Florentine Gardens, Hollywood, for Jesse Jr., 1st. Lieutenant, U.S. Army Signal Corps, leaving for the South Pacific, . Clockwise from left: Cecilia Presnell, wife of Cal. Robert Presnell (Jesse’s superior officer); Jean Koehler; across from Lasky, Jean Donnelly; Boris Lovet-Lorski, sculptor; Teddy Lynch (J. Paul Getty’s last wife); and Lasky's good friend Jack Emanuel
The Laskys with silent film star Antonio Moreno, at an exhibition of Bessie's paintings in the Ambassador Hotel’s Colonial Room in Los Angeles, 1949