The legendary Walter Mirisch got his start producing low-budget features for the more famous of the “Poverty Row” studios, Monogram, and served as executive producer with its subsidiary, Allied Artists, before forming an independent production company with his brother Marvin (born 1918) and half-brother Harold (born 1907) in 1957. The Mirisch Company, Inc. soon emerged as the preeminent independent production outfit of the period, following the decline of the Hollywood studio system.

The Mirisch brothers began as producers with the "Bomba" series of low-budget films starring Johnny Sheffield –