He was the son of Stella (Stettheimer) and Sigmund Feuchtwanger, who were from German Jewish families that had emigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century.

After leaving college, Wanger became a professional theatrical producer in New York City where he worked with figures such as the influential British manager Harley Granville-Barker and the Russian actress Alla Nazimova.

[4] Following the American entry into World War I in 1917, Wanger served with the U.S. Army in Italy initially in the Signal Corps where he worked as a pilot on reconnaissance missions,[5] and later in propaganda operations directed at the Italian public.

In April 1918 Wanger was transferred to the Committee on Public Information, and joined an effort to combat anti-war or pro-German sentiment in Allied Italy.

This was partly accomplished through a series of short propaganda films screened in Italian cinemas promoting democracy and Allied war aims.

He initially returned to theatre production, before a chance meeting with film producer Jesse Lasky drew him into the world of commercial filmmaking.

While on a visit to London, Paramount key founder Jesse Lasky offered to appoint him as "general manager of production" on improved terms and Wanger accepted.

[13] In 1926, Warner Brothers premièred Don Juan, a film with music and sound effects, and the following year released The Jazz Singer with dialogue and singing scenes.

Along with other big companies, Paramount initially resisted adopting sound films and continued to exclusively make silent ones.

Wanger recruited large numbers of new performers including Maurice Chevalier, the Marx Brothers, Claudette Colbert, Jeanette MacDonald, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins and directors such as George Cukor and Rouben Mamoulian.

[16] Wanger's New York films were often adapted from stage plays and focused on sophisticated comedies, often with European settings, while Schulberg concentrated on more populist stories in Hollywood.

[18] Wanger was to take on a greater personal role in individual films than he had previously, although he always attempted to give directors and screenwriters creative freedom.

His other film at the studio was Gabriel Over the White House, which starred Walter Huston as the president of the United States who becomes a fascist maintaining world peace after a car accident.

Wanger would become well known for his education over entertainment pictures that often carried social messages and while Gabriel Over the White House became a critical and commercial hit, it faded into obscurity due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power that same year.

His pictures reached a commercial and critical peak form the late 30's to the mid 40's with films like Algiers, Stagecoach, Foreign Correspondent, Arabian Nights, and Scarlet Street under his belt with his Walter Wanger Productions.

He was able to obtain a contract star with Charles Boyer who signed to the producer in 1935 for a 5 year contract made a star under Wanger with films like Shanghai and his famous performance as thief on the run Pepe Le Moko in Algiers which garnered Boyer an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a leading role.

Wanger was also a huge help to Universal Pictures in the 1940s, introducing Technicolor to them with Arabian Nights, as well as producing the aforementioned Scarlet Street for them, and other hits like Eagle Squadron.

In May 1966, Wanger received the Commendation of the Order of Merit, Italy's third-highest honor, from Consul General Alvaro v. Bettrani, "for your friendship and cooperation with the Italian government in all phases of the motion picture industry.

[22] The entire experience with the criminal charges and jail sentence affected Wanger profoundly, and in 1954 he made the prison film Riot in Cell Block 11.