When most people think of Filmways, they probably picture hayseed comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. While the studio was responsible for most of CBS' so called 'hick-coms', it also had a respected motion picture arm the sought to identify smaller pictures with promise and possibly prestige. Co-founder Martin Ransohoff had a penchant for finding talent before they were famous, signing actresses Ann-Margret, Tuesday Weld and Sharon Tate. He also produced vehicles directed by Roman Polanski and Brian DePalma.
The departure of the company's principals didn't immediately cause problems at the studio; it still had a lucrative catalog of past productions after all. However shoddy record keeping resulted in a few of its television productions ending up in the public domain. The ill fated purchase of schlock cartoon studio Ruby Spears resulted in the studio almost declaring bankruptcy in the early 1980's. Its television and film rights ended up scattered around Hollywood, some landing at CBS, some at Warner Brothers. Eventually the studio was taken over and renamed Orion Pictures.
As Orion, the studio would have greater success, releasing Robocop and The Silence of the Lambs, eventually getting taken over by MGM who would retire then re-instate the Orion Pictures name.
