... His agent Lew Wasserman had brokered an extraordinarily generous deal from a nervous Paramount Pictures so … Lew Wasserman He was honored posthumously with the 2,349th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 5, 2007. David Davis, "A Well-Nourished Mogul - Casey Wasserman, Grandson of the Late Lew Wasserman, Is Emerging as an L.A. Power Broker, Nurtured by His Grandfather's Tutelage and the Family Fortune". The last thing Lew Wasserman wanted, in 1960, was credit as a producer on an Alfred Hitchcock motion picture. Lew R. Wasserman was born on March 22, 1913, in Cleveland. Company Credits This marriage also ended in divorce. Lew Wasserman was sitting to my left and Alma and Hitch were to my right, and — he placed — Hitch placed a very, very beautifully wrapped package from Gumps in San Francisco. Several years later, he spoke of his ongoing work at Universal to Variety, saying, "I am under contract here for the rest of my life, and I don't think they would throw me out of my office - my name is on the building."[1]. Lew Wasserman was Steven Spielberg's mentor and Hollywood's ultimate mover & shaker ... Another MCA client, Alfred Hitchcock, ended up owning the negatives of several films, including “Vertigo FALSE 3. : According to Dan E. Moldea's survey Dark Victory : Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (which inspired Clara and Julia Kuperberg's 2017 TV documentary Ronald Reagan: un président sur mesure), Wasserman was the link between the Mafia, the Hollywood film industry and Reagan, who obtained very lucrative deals as an actor with Wasserman as his agent. Acquired from the above by Lew and Edie Wasserman, Los Angeles, circa 1970. In 1966, he singlehandedly installed Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The former estate of Hollywood’s greatest star maker, Lew Wasserman, hit the market Tuesday for $125 million. But while its dim fantasies about Hitchcock and the association of genius with psychosis can be written off … Since studios reduced output after World War II, they let more actors out of long-term contracts, and big agencies like MCA could then negotiate stronger terms for their clients. Lew Wasserman worked with Hitchcock to sell the rights to his films, including Psycho, to MCA-Universal in exchange for stock in the company, making Hitchcock millions of dollars … The corporation, which would employ the actor, would own part of a motion picture the actor appeared in, and all monies would accrue to the corporation, which was taxed at a much lower rate than was personal income. Hitchcock stands apart from your average memoir about a Hollywood icon (ex. "But the Disney family said that Ron Miller [a Disney executive] had to be [MCA] president. [10], Lew Wasserman's grandson, Casey Wasserman, carries on the family name in the agency business, the Wasserman Media Group (WMG), which he started in 1998. He is also acting President and Chief Executive Officer of the Wasserman Foundation, a charitable organization founded by the Wassermans in 1952 in Beverly Hills. In 1996, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.[7]. The Alfred Hitchcock biopic Hitchcock was his final release of the year, with Stuhlbarg portraying talent agent and studio executive Lew Wasserman. Felix [Rohatyn, the investment banker advising MCA] said to Lew, "Do it – a year from now, you'll get rid of Miller, and make Sid President." For example, Feldman and Selznick realized in the late 1930s that an actor could pay much less tax by turning himself into a corporation. Richard Portnow Barney Balaban. We already *have* the money, Barney. "[5], At MCA Wasserman expanded upon a business practice known as film packaging (a process established by earlier agents like Feldman and Selznick). As an agency, Wasserman's MCA came to dominate Hollywood, representing such stars as Bette Davis and Ronald Reagan. “Hitchcock had had a stunning decade,” says Botting. Wallace Langham Saul Bass. KS. ... (Boardwalk Empire) as the director's agent, Lew Wasserman, make good use of their limited screen time. I'm listening. Filmography. Danielle Berrin, "‘The end of an era’: Clintons, Katzenberg, Pelosi pay tribute to Edie Wasserman", Lew Wasserman profile at International Who's Who, Lew Wasserman profile at the Internet Accuracy Project, Oral History Interview with Lew Wasserman, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, A 9 minute video produced by Universal City Studios (2013), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lew_Wasserman&oldid=1002780711, American people of Russian-Jewish descent, Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2011, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from September 2018, Articles needing additional references from May 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2012, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 26 January 2021, at 00:58. : The movie has its diversions, including Scarlett Johansson's bodacious Janet Leigh and Michael Stuhlbarg's wheedling Lew Wasserman. This is Mr Hitchcock's next film. MW. TRUE 2. [citation needed], American studio executive and talent agent, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/04/business/lew-wasserman-89-is-dead-last-of-hollywood-s-moguls.html, https://variety.com/2016/biz/news/lew-wasserman-birthday-mover-shaker-1201721984/, "Television Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List". [citation needed], Following the rising postwar popularity of television and the resulting near bankruptcy of many studios, Wasserman purchased Universal Studios and Decca Records in 1962 and merged them with MCA. Interesting. WL. "All the terms were done," said Barry Diller, who had learned what happened from one of the principals. Barney, it's very simple. | Alfred Hitchcock presenting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Lew Wasserman at the 46th Academy Awards® in 1974. RP. Until then, Hitchcock was under contract at Warner Brothers, who agreed to loan him to Paramount for one film, but Wasserman managed to evolve the initial contract into a longer-term relationship with the studio. Whether or not this was actually true, Lew Wasserman was not keen on the project, though Hitchcock never gave up hope of one day filming it. Barney Balaban The screen test was put together, and I guess everybody saw it, and Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock invited me to dinner at Chasens. [MCA president and COO] Sid [Sheinberg] said to Lew, "It's fine." Together they orchestrated and controlled much of how Hollywood operated, and was allowed to do business, for the next several decades. Barney, it's very simple. ... Alfred Hitchcock, a close friend of Wasserman’s, would later come to … The Newsmeat Power Rankings identify Wasserman and his close friend Jack Valenti as two of the top five "most famous and powerful Americans whose campaign contributions result most often in victory. As a tribute to the man who essentially built the park, the New York section of Universal Studios Florida possesses a statue of Wasserman with an accompanying plaque. Lewis Robert Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive credited with first creating and then taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades.

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