Joseph H. Hazen; Hollywood Attorney, Producer, Art Collector

Joseph H. Hazen, 96, Hollywood attorney and producer who became an art collector and philanthropist. He graduated from Washington University School of Law and worked as counsel for Warner Bros. in the silent film era. He wrote the contract with Vitaphone, the company that made “The Jazz Singer,” the first talking motion picture. After leaving Warner Bros. in 1944, he joined Hal Wallis to produce 63 films over three decades. Among those were “Come Back, Little Sheba” in 1953, “Barefoot in the Park” in 1967 and “True Grit” in 1969. In his retirement years, he became a patron of the arts, collecting Impressionist and Postimpressionist art and lending it to museums for display. On Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla.