Walter Mirisch, a film producer who with his two brothers ran a pioneering independent production company that helped bring to the screen a raft of classic films, including the Oscar best-picture winners “West Side Story,” “The Apartment,” and “In the Heat of the Night,” died Feb. 24 in Los Angeles, at 101.

The Mirisch Company, which Mr. Mirisch founded in 1957, grew to be an industry powerhouse, greenlighting films by leading directors — including John Ford, John Huston and Billy Wilder — that were nominated for a total of 87 Academy Awards and won 28. Other hits included “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Some Like it Hot,” and “The Pink Panther.”

Mr. Mirisch served four terms as president of the Motion Picture Academy, which honored him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, recognizing a career of distinguished work.