Cyrus Harvey Jr.
American film distributor (1925-2011)

Cyrus Isadore Harvey Jr. (October 14, 1925 – April 14, 2011) was an American film distributor and business entrepreneur, he was the co-founder of Janus Films in 1956, and part-owner of the Brattle Theatre with his longtime business partner film producer and actor Bryant Haliday. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was the son of Jewish immigrants. He helped introduce American viewers to foreign art movies from many countries including Japan, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden.
Biography
At the end of World War II, Harvey served as a navigator in the United States Air Forces, though he did not serve overseas. After the war he graduated from Harvard University, where he studied history and literature. After graduation, he went to Paris.
In addition to his business interests being a film distributor, he founded the now international retailer Crabtree and Evelyn, that specialises in body and home products.
Cyrus Harvey Jr. died in Dayville, Connecticut, on April 14, 2011, of a stroke suffered four days earlier.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 17, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q5201101. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925, 2011 and 1956.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cyrus Harvey Jr.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.