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Founded in 1935 by Herbert Yates as a merger of several smaller "poverty row" studios, Republic in its heyday produced memorable feature films such as The Quiet Man and Sands of Iwo Jima (both with John Wayne), Johnny Guitar , and The Maverick Queen . Many Western stars such as Gene Autry, Rex Allen, and Roy Rogers made their home at Republic. The company also built its reputation on its numerous Saturday-afternoon cliffhanger serials that were generally considered the best in the business.

The original Republic Pictures as a production unit closed down in 1959. Around that same time a company called National Telefilm Associates (NTA) acquired the Republic library for television, as well as other holdings such as the Betty Boop/ Max Fleischer cartoons, It's a Wonderful Life, selected Cary Grant films, and many early United Artists releases. In 1963, the Republic studio facilities were sold to CBS, and their location today is part of CBS Television City.

By 1986 film partners bought NTA and transformed it into the resurrected Republic Pictures, and the studio went into production for the first time in 27 years. They went mainly into TV production, responsible for the CBS series Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast is a television series, originally broadcast in 1987. It was centered around the relationship between Catherine ( Linda Hamilton), an attorney who lived in New York City, and Vincent ( Ron Perlman), a gentle, but lion-faced "beast" wh and other TV movies, although they did produce few independent theatrical films including Freeway.

In 1993, Republic (which by this time had become a subsidiary of Spelling Entertainment) won a landmark legal decision reactivating the copyright on Frank CapraFrank Capra ( May 18, 1897 September 3, 1991) was an American film director and a major creative force behind a number of highly popular films. Born in Sicily, Capra moved with his family to America in 1903, settling in Los Angeles, where he graduated fro's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life (they had already owned the film's negative, music score, and the story on which it was based, "The Greatest Gift").

Shortly thereafter, Spelling consolidated its many divisions, reducing Republic Pictures to an in-name-only distribution company (which is how Republic continues to function today). By the end of the decade, ViacomViacom is an international media conglomerate. The companies owned by Viacom touch virtually every major segment of the media industry. Sumner Redstone is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Mel Karmazin resigned as President and Chief Oper bought the portion of Spelling it did not own previously, thus today Republic is a wholly-owned division of ParamountParamount Pictures is a large United States-based motion picture company. The Paramount company was founded by W. Hodkinson on May 8, 1912, as a merger of 11 film rental bureaus. Paramount was the first company that did nationwide distribution, thus gaini/Viacom.

Today's Republic Pictures is responsible for a catalog of 3,000 films and TV series, including the pre-1973 NBCSteff Geissbuhler. The feathers are said to represent the network's six divisions. NBC Universal Television is an American television network based in New York's Rockefeller Center. As of May 2004, it became part of NBC Universal. NBC supplies programming library (including BonanzaThis article discusses the television program. For the airplane see Beechcraft Bonanza. Bonanza was an American western/ cowboy television program starring Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Pernell Roberts, and Victor Sen Yung. It was the first r), most of the Quinn MartinQuinn Martin was an American television producer, notably behind The Fugitive, The Invaders and The Untouchables. ( The Fugitive, The Streets of San Francisco, etc.) and Aaron Spelling ( The Love Boat, Twin Peaks, Beverly Hills 90210, etc.) catalog, and the aforementioned select pre-1952 UA ( High Noon, Copacabana, etc.) and NTA holdings (Fleischer cartoons, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.), though they are now distributed under license with Lions Gate Home Entertainment for video, and under Paramount Pictures for all other media.