Editing United Artists (section)

===Public company===
United Artists went public in 1957 with a $17&nbsp;million stock and [[debenture]] offering. The company was averaging 50 films a year.<ref name="fu"/> In 1958, UA acquired [[Ilya Lopert]]'s [[Lopert Pictures Corporation]], which released foreign films that attracted criticism or had censorship problems.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Balio| first1=Tino| title=United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry| date=March 2, 2009| publisher=University of Wisconsin Press| location=Madison, Wisconsin| isbn=9780299114404| pages=226–227| edition=1st| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9EeK5s3aw44C&q=united+artists+legal+successor&pg=PA343| access-date=September 2, 2017| archive-date=March 7, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307172219/https://books.google.com/books?id=9EeK5s3aw44C&q=united+artists+legal+successor&pg=PA343| url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1957, UA created [[United Artists Records]] Corporation and United Artists Music Corporation after an unsuccessful attempt to buy a record company.<ref>{{cite magazine| title=US Sets Up Own Diskery Label| magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]| date=October 14, 1957| page=20| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20| access-date=September 2, 2017| language=en| issn=0006-2510}}</ref> In 1968, UA Records merged with [[Liberty Records]], along with its many subsidiary labels such as [[Imperial Records]] and [[Dolton Records]]. In 1972, the group was consolidated into one entity as United Artists Records and in 1979, [[EMI]] acquired the division which included [[Blue Note Records]].<ref name=EMI>{{cite web| title=About: 1970–1979| url=http://www.emiarchivetrust.org/about/history-of-emi/| publisher=EMI Archive Trust| access-date=October 1, 2017| archive-date=October 2, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002165657/http://www.emiarchivetrust.org/about/history-of-emi/| url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1959, after failing to sell several pilots, United Artists offered its first ever television series, ''[[The Troubleshooters (1959 TV series)|The Troubleshooters]]'',<ref>{{cite book| last1=McNeil| first1=Alex| title=Total television: the comprehensive guide to programming from 1948 to the present| date=1996| publisher=Penguin Books| location=New York| isbn=9780140249163| page=886| edition=4th| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dctkAAAAMAAJ| access-date=September 2, 2017| archive-date=March 7, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307172219/https://books.google.com/books?id=dctkAAAAMAAJ| url-status=live}}</ref> and later released its first sitcom, ''[[The Dennis O'Keefe Show]]''.

In the 1960s, mainstream studios fell into decline and some were acquired or diversified. UA prospered while winning 11 Academy Awards, including five for Best Picture,<ref name="fu"/> adding relationships with the [[Mirisch Company|Mirisch brothers]], [[Billy Wilder]], [[Joseph E. Levine]] and others. In 1961, United Artists released ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'', which won ten [[Academy Award]]s (including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]).

In 1960, UA purchased [[Ziv Television Programs]]. [[United Artists Television|UA's television division]] was responsible for shows such as ''[[Gilligan's Island]],'' ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'', ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|Outer Limits]]'', and ''[[The Patty Duke Show]]''. The television unit had begun to build up a profitable rental library, including [[Associated Artists Productions]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/mediahistory&tab=collection?and%5B%5D=subject%3A%22Motion%20pictures%20--%20Catalogues%22 |title=Movies from a.a.p.: Programs of quality from quality studios, Warner Bros. features and cartoons, Popeye cartoons |year=1957 |access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref> owners of [[Warner Bros.]] pre-1950<ref name="Schickel">{{cite book| last1=Schickel| first1=Richard| last2=Perry| first2=George| title=You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story| date=September 9, 2008| publisher=Running Press| location=Philadelphia.|isbn=9780762434183| page=255| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mN0sLgAACAAJ| access-date=2 September 2017| language=en}}</ref>{{efn|WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948, in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.}} features, shorts and cartoons and 231 ''[[Popeye the Sailor (animated cartoons)|Popeye]]'' cartoon shorts purchased from [[Paramount Pictures]] in 1958, becoming [[United Artists Associated]], its distribution division.

In 1963, UA released two Stanley Kramer films, ''[[It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]'' and ''[[A&nbsp;Child Is Waiting]]''. In 1964, UA introduced U.S. film audiences to [[the Beatles]] by releasing ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]'' (1964) and ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]'' (1965).

At the same time, it backed two expatriate North Americans in Britain, who had acquired screen rights to [[Ian Fleming]]'s [[James Bond]] novels. For $1&nbsp;million, UA backed [[Harry Saltzman]] and [[Albert Broccoli]]'s ''[[Dr. No (film)|Dr. No]]'' in 1963 and launched the [[James Bond (film series)|James Bond franchise]].<ref name=VF>{{cite magazine| last1=Kamp| first1=David| title=Fifty Years of Bond, James Bond: The Greatest Film Franchise's Biggest Birthday| magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]| date=October 2012| url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/fifty-years-of-james-bond| access-date=October 1, 2017| quote=In 1961, Broccoli worked his connections to secure a meeting in New York with Arthur Krim, the head of United Artists. Krim agreed to a budget of just over a million dollars for a James Bond movie.| archive-date=May 17, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517221556/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/fifty-years-of-james-bond| url-status=live}}</ref> The franchise outlived UA's time as a major studio, continuing half a century later. Other successful projects backed in this period included the ''[[The Pink Panther (film series)|Pink Panther]]'' series, which began in 1964, and [[Spaghetti Western]]s, which made a star of [[Clint Eastwood]] in the films of ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', ''[[For a Few Dollars More]]'' and ''[[The Good, The Bad and The Ugly]]''.

In 1964, the French subsidiary, Les Productions Artistes Associés, released its first production ''[[That Man from Rio]]''.

In 1965, UA released the anticipated George Stevens' production of ''[[The Greatest Story Ever Told]]'' and was at the time, the most expensive film which was budgeted at $20 million. Max Von Sydow, in the role of Jesus Christ, led an all-star cast which included Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Martin Landau, Dorothy McGuire, Sal Mineo, Ina Balin, Joanna Dunham, David McCallum, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, José Ferrer and Ed Wynn. The film did not make back its budget and was released to mixed critical receptions. But it has since been acclaimed as a classic by audiences around the world for being admirably inspired in its attempt to be faithful to the four books of the New Testament in the Holy Bible as well as the book of the same name by [[Fulton Oursler]] and the [[The Greatest Story Ever Told (radio program)|radio program]] which ran from 1947 to 1956. ''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' received five Academy Award nominations in 1965 and was also listed among the "Top 10 Films of the Year" by the [[National Board of Review]].