The studio's roster of stars included Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, and many more famous names. Many of the classic films of all time were produced in MGM's studios. The Wizard of Oz, Ninotchka, Ben-Hur, Mutiny of the Bounty, The Good Earth, and the many MGM musicals of the 1950s are just a few. Ted Turner takes over MGM, selling off parts of the studio. His interest is primarily in the MGM film library.
Heavy losses begin.
1995 - Despite hits like Golden Eye, Get Shorty, and Leaving Las Vegas, MGM loses money. But the lion's roar was starting to fade by the time Kirk Kerkorian bought the company in 1970. He promptly made severe personnel cuts, sold off most of the studio's real estate, and let famous MGM film memorabilia go for a fraction of its real value. MGM pulled out of the film distribution business in 1973. After 1980 the MGM story is a complex sequence of wheeling and dealing, with the MGM brand name and identity becoming more diluted with each successive trade.