Philip
Harris III presides over Oakland, Calif.-based Signature
Theatres, which with more than 200 screens in California,
Hawaii and Montana ranks as one of North America’s
25 largest cinema chains.
What
about you would most surprise the majority of your fellow
exhibitors?
I’m not always an “A” personality.
What’s
the best thing about living in Northern California?
The geography, the weather and the culture make Northern
California as close to paradise as it gets.
Leaving
aside family members, who was your first role model?
Bill Kartozian.
What
would you wish for if a djinn offered to grant one wish
(assuming you couldn’t wish for more wishes)?
That my children be granted long, healthy prosperous lives.
What
would you be if you weren’t a cinema operator?
A real estate developer.
Who
is your favorite filmmaker and why?
Ron Howard. He has always been able to capture the human
spirit and use it to evoke the proper audience emotion at
the proper time.
What
was your favorite movie last year?
“A Beautiful Mind.”
Which
movie or movies are you most looking forward to?
The next chapter of “Indiana Jones.”
Who
is the most talented actor most people have never heard
of?
I don’t know. I’ve never heard of him either.
Which
book would you most want to see adapted into a motion picture?
Any of Clive Cussler’s unadapted novels.
Which
TV show do you hate to miss?
I’m embarrassed to say none.
What’s
your favorite movie theatre in which you and/or your partners
have absolutely no investment?
The Grove in Los Angeles.
Which
sacred cow would you most like to barbecue?
That it has worked in the past, therefore it will work in
the future.
What’s
the best thing about running a cinema company?
Overseeing the process which starts with analysis and development,
and ends with selling tickets to a movie in a new theatre.
What’s
the worst?
The number of hours spent in helping bankers understand
what we do, how we do it, and why we are successful, when
in their opinion we shouldn’t be.
What
do you wish someone had told you earlier?
It’s the location, stupid!
What
was the single best piece of advice you ever got?
Never be afraid to take a profit. 
