Deep Dive - Old School Kind and Bad-Ass Jewish Managers and Producers of the 70's 80's, and 90's
Biography - Robert Evans
Film mogul Robert Evans rescued the Paramount movie studio from financial ruin when he became head of worldwide production in 1966. Under his leadership, which lasted until 1974, Paramount's earnings grew from five percent of Gulf and Western's (its parent company) income to 55 percent. Propelled by such hits as Rosemary's Baby and The Godfather, Evans' Paramount became the top–grossing film studio in Hollywood. But after leaving Paramount to become an independent producer, Evans fell on hard times, flirting with financial ruin himself, and running afoul of the law with a drug conviction. Evans' star rose again, however, with the 2002 film The Kid Stays in the Picture, based on his autobiography of the same name. The film was a hit, turning Evans into a celebrity, and once again, offers began to roll in for him.
Robert Evans was born Robert J. Shapera in New York City in 1930—the beginning of the Great Depression. Evans' father, Archie, was a dentist, and he ran his own clinic in Harlem. Archie worked seven days a week at the clinic to support the family, which included Evans' mother, older brother, and younger sister. "Both my parents were second– generation Jews," Evans said in his 1994 autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. "That was all they had in common." Evans admired his father, who was also well liked by his patients in Harlem. Unusual for the time, Archie had a staff of both white and African–American dentists and assistants.
Very early on, while still in elementary school, Evans decided he wanted to become an actor. His inspiration was the stars of the silver screen—James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and others. While Evans was growing up, radio was king, employing more actors than any other medium, including film. So Evans set his sights on becoming a radio actor. When he was 12 years old, Evans began to audition regularly for roles in radio, and within a few months, he landed his first part—that of a Nazi colonel on a show called Radio Mystery Theater. By the time Evans turned 14, he was acting regularly on a program called Let's Pretend. More radio roles followed in rapid succession.
Evans changed his last name while in junior high school at the insistence of his father, who had always felt that his boys should be named after his mother (Ms. Evan before she was married; Evans added the "s") rather than his father, who was not a good parent. Evans continued his acting career in radio through high school, also picking up occasional roles on television, which was just starting to take hold as a viable medium for entertainment.
After an unsuccessful bid to become an film actor in Hollywood, Evans headed back East, where he worked for his brother's by–then–thriving women's clothing manufacturing business. Evans and his brother struck it rich, and before he turned 25, Evans was a millionaire. The company's label, Evan–Picone, continued to be a trend–setter in women's fashion into the 21st century.
Wealthy and 26 years old, Evans thought his acting career was well behind him. But while in Beverly Hills on business in 1956, he was spotted poolside at the hotel he was staying in by the female star of a new film in production by Universal, The Man of a Thousand Faces. The film also starred one of Evans' early idols, James Cagney. The female star, Norma Shearer, wanted Evans to play a role in the film. He screen–tested with Cagney that day, and was cast the following day. And so, Evans, without even trying, finally broke into films.
Shortly after finishing his work on his first film, Evans was spotted by Twentieth Century Fox producer Darryl Zanuck in a night club. Zanuck did not even know that Evans was an actor, but he saw in him star potential, and he cast Evans in a film version of the Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises. In it, he played opposite Ava Gardner as her Mexican bullfighter lover.
It was during the making of this film that Evans found his true calling. Arriving on set in Mexico, he was instantly disliked by the cast, the writer, and the director, all of whom told Zanuck in no uncertain terms that Evans would make the film a failure. Zanuck came to the Mexican set to see for himself why Evans was so disliked. Evans turned on the charm for Zanuck during the filming of his scenes in the bullring. Afterward, Zanuck pronounced, as Evans reported in his autobiography, "The kid stays in the picture. And anybody who doesn't like it can quit!" Zanuck left the set without further discussion. Evans, who did indeed stay in the picture, decided then and there that what he really wanted to do was become a producer. As he put it in his autobiography, "It was then I learned what a producer was—a Boss. It was then I learned I wanted to be D.Z., not some actor desperate for a nod of approval."
Both The Man of a Thousand Faces and The Sun Also Rises came out within a few weeks of each other in 1957, to critical acclaim. For a brief while, Evans, by his account, was one of the most sought–after actors in Hollywood. But the offers quickly boiled down to roles in second–rate films. Evans, by his own admission, did not have the talents of a major film star. Then, too, his heart was in producing, not acting. After acting in several unmemorable minor films, Evans was given an ultimatum by his brother's company: either return to New York as an executive, or sell out his stake in the company.
Even as his marriage fell apart, Evans' star as a producer rose. A feature article about him the New York Times brought him to the attention of the heads of the Paramount movie studio, who hired him in 1966 to head the studio's European production office in London, England. It was an offer he could not refuse, and he had to back out of his contract with 20th Century Fox—all this before he produced a single film. Evans later credited the New York Times article, which was written by Peter Bart, with landing him the Paramount deal. Evans returned the favor a few months later by hiring Bart to be on his staff at Paramount after Evans was promoted and moved to Hollywood.
Evans' promotion put him in charge of production at the entire studio. At the time Paramount was dead last in earnings among the major Hollywood movie studios, and its owners were counting on Evans to improve its fortunes—they were not disappointed. The studio's first big hit under Evans was the 1968 film The Odd Couple. Based on the play by the same name by Neil Simon, the film became a smash hit, eventually spawning numerous sequels and a TV series.
Under the leadership of Evans, Paramount, tottering dangerously close to financial ruin when he took the helm, pulled back into the black. He followed up the success of The Odd Couple with Rosemary's Baby, also in 1968. It became the best–grossing film of the summer, and made its lead actress, Mia Farrow, a star. Goodbye Columbus in 1969 was the next hit for Paramount, and it too catapulted its lead actress, Ali MacGraw, to stardom. Evans was just as taken with MacGraw as the movie–going public; he married her the year the film came out. They had one child, a son named Joshua, before divorcing in 1972. Paramount produced many more hits under Evans, including 1968's Romeo and Juliet, 1970's Love Story, which starred MacGraw, and 1972's The Godfather. Under Evans, Paramount went from earning just five percent of the revenues of its parent company, to 55 percent, and became the top movie studio in Hollywood.
But while Paramount's fortunes soared, Evans' did not. Never earning percentages of his film company's profits, nor bonuses in addition to his salary, Evans found himself sliding into debt, and he left Paramount in 1974 to produce films on his own. His first effort as an independent producer, 1974's Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, was a hit. In 1977, Evans married his fourth wife, former Miss America Phyllis George. That marriage lasted eleven months. In 1980, Evans was prosecuted along with his brother for purchasing thousands of dollars worth of cocaine. He stayed out of jail, spending a year on probation. But it was the beginning of a decline for the producer. Two films ruined him financially in 1990. These were The Cotton Club and The Two Jakes. After his old friend Nicholson helped him financially, he attempted a comeback later in the 1990s by producing what turned out to be unmemorable thrillers. It was during this time, in 1994, that he published his autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. Evans suffered a series of debilitating strokes in 1998, and he required extensive rehabilitation. During his recovery period, he married Catherine Oxenberg after a five–day courtship. This fifth marriage was his briefest, lasting only a few days. "My fault," he later told People 's Jim Jerome. "My brain wasn't working right."
The Kid Stays in the Picture was made into a movie narrated by Evans himself, and released in 2002, to critical and popular acclaim. It made Evans into a celebrity once again. In May of 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Offers came rolling in, and he was soon back producing. Among his first efforts in this, his second comeback, was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The film, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, was released in 2003.
https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2004-Di-Ko/Evans-Robert.html
Articles https://therake.com/stories/robert-evans-the-last-tycoon/
https://www.vogue.com/article/robert-evans-producer-has-died
https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/robert-evans-last-days/
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-legacy-of-robert-evans-a-vexing-hollywood-legend
https://variety.com/2019/film/columns/robert-evans-rip-the-producer-who-stayed-in-the-picture-1203386453/
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/robert-evans-obituary
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/robert-evans-the-offer-true-stories
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/28/robert-evans-celebrated-hollywood-producer-of-chinatown-dies-aged-89
https://pagesix.com/2019/10/28/inside-the-wild-life-of-hollywood-movie-maestro-robert-evans/
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish Managers and Producers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books https://www.amazon.com/Kid-Stays-Picture-Notorious-Life/dp/0062228323
https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Lady-Sang-Robert-Evans/dp/0062286048
Biography- Bernie Brillstein
Bernard Jules "Bernie" Brillstein (April 26, 1931 – August 7, 2008) was an American film and television producer, executive producer, talent agent and personal manager. Brillstein was born in Manhattan, to Moe and Tillie Brillstein, who all shared the Manhattan home of his uncle, the vaudeville and radio performer Jack Pearl. Brillstein attended Stuyvesant High School, graduated from New York University, and later served in the military. Brillstein earned his way into show business in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency (WMA) in New York. He worked his way up to talent agent and by the 1960s he was a manager-producer of television programming for the company. Still associated with WMA, in 1964 he joined Management III to continue talent management. In the 1960s, he also co-founded the vocal group The Doodletown Pipers. By now living in Los Angeles, Brillstein formed The Brillstein Company in 1969. There, he continued to manage stars and develop television programming. He produced such popular television hits as Hee Haw, The Muppet Show and Saturday Night Live.
Brillstein later became manager of SNL alums Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Martin Short, and Lorne Michaels, as well as Jim Henson (of Muppets fame) and Paul Fusco (voice and operator of ALF). He produced such other television shows as Alf: The Animated Series, and Normal Life. He was also exclusive producer to the animation sequel The Real Ghostbusters (based on the hit movie).
In the 1980s, he met Brad Grey at a television convention in San Francisco. In 1991[4] the two formed a production company, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, which packages programming and manages talent. They were responsible for such shows as NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me!, The Larry Sanders Show and The Sopranos. As executive producer, Brillstein has been responsible for such successes as The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Dragnet, Ghostbusters II, Happy Gilmore and The Cable Guy. Brillstein sold his shares in the company to Grey, his one time protégé, in 1996. Grey sold his interest in the company in 2005. He also represented Nick Swardson for six years prior to his death.
Brillstein's 1999 memoir, Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead, was co-written with David Rensin. Two years later, he received the honor as recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, on April 18, 2001.
http://www.personalmanagershalloffame.org/bernie-brillstein-1.html
Articles
https://walkoffame.com/bernie-brillstein/
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/television/09brillstein.html
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Bernie_Brillstein
http://www.personalmanagershalloffame.org/bernie-brillstein-1.html
http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Bernie-Brillstein.html
https://deadline.com/2008/08/rip-bernie-brillstein-6621/
https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/hollywood-power-broker-bernie-brillstein-dead/article_271d39a8-89ea-56dd-af26-5d9ac401b475.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-aug-09-me-brillstein9-story.html
https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/bernie-brillstein/index.html
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish Managers and Producers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Go-Right-Hollywood/dp/1597775584
https://www.abebooks.com/Little-Stuff-Matters-Rules-Years-Living/30627495822/bd
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Go-Right-Hollywood/dp/B01JZNBJMK
https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Lies-Thats-Truth/dp/B000H2MABS
Shep Gordon
Shep Gordon is known in the entertainment industry as having an eye for talent and an innate understanding of what people find entertaining. After graduating from SUNY Buffalo, Shep moved to LA and in 1969 co-founded Alive Enterprises. Over the years, Gordon has been responsible for managing the careers of Alice Cooper, Groucho Marx, Raquel Welch, Luther Vandross, Kenny Loggins, and countless others. He’s also credited as creating the celebrity chef, which revolutionized the food industry and turned the culinary arts into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. His clients that include culinary legends, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, Nobu, Daniel Boulud and many more. In addition to the impact he’s had on the music, film and food industries, he’s also highly regarded for his philanthropic endeavors. Shep was named one of the 100 most influential people in Rolling Stone magazine. He was the subject of Mike Myers 2013 documentary - Supermensch The Legend of Shep Gordon. Anthony Bourdain ECCO will be releasing his book - They Call Me Supermensch A Backstage Pass To The Amazing World Of Film, Food, and Rock ’N’ Roll in September 2016.
Articles
https://www.wsj.com/video/shep-gordon-a-backstage-pass-into-the-world-of-rock-n-roll/33A590E9-1926-4C23-847B-8DF7F9527024.htmlhttps://www.kitv.com/kakou/aging-well/aging-well-famous-talent-manager-shep-gordon-says-gratitude-is-key/article_f1775ad1-ab4a-5ddd-8d1f-dd4e73474f94.html
https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/shep-gordon/
https://www.jordanharbinger.com/shep-gordon-interview-with-the-supermensch/
https://nypost.com/2016/09/17/shep-gordons-life-of-sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll-is-absolutely-amazing/
https://www.oprah.com/spirit/music-exec-shep-gordon-adopts-four-kids_1/all
https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/celebrity-maker-shep-gordon-mulls-the-reality-hes-helped-create/article_e85c47ef-2fdb-5d56-b572-c73baf8235f6.html
https://www.kushnerentertainment.com/the-music-makers-podcast-episodes/2021/04/02/episode-41-shep-gordon-the-greatest-manager-of-our-time-creating-history
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/02/5-lessons-learned-from-shep-gordon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/movies/supermensch-profiles-shep-gordon-a-talent-manager.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/shep-gordon-talks-alice-cooper-bond-legalizing-pot-creepy-fan-mail-108462/
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish managers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books
https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Supermensch-Backstage-RocknRoll-ebook/dp/B00MMFN8QY
Website
https://www.shepgordon.com
Film mogul Robert Evans rescued the Paramount movie studio from financial ruin when he became head of worldwide production in 1966. Under his leadership, which lasted until 1974, Paramount's earnings grew from five percent of Gulf and Western's (its parent company) income to 55 percent. Propelled by such hits as Rosemary's Baby and The Godfather, Evans' Paramount became the top–grossing film studio in Hollywood. But after leaving Paramount to become an independent producer, Evans fell on hard times, flirting with financial ruin himself, and running afoul of the law with a drug conviction. Evans' star rose again, however, with the 2002 film The Kid Stays in the Picture, based on his autobiography of the same name. The film was a hit, turning Evans into a celebrity, and once again, offers began to roll in for him.
Robert Evans was born Robert J. Shapera in New York City in 1930—the beginning of the Great Depression. Evans' father, Archie, was a dentist, and he ran his own clinic in Harlem. Archie worked seven days a week at the clinic to support the family, which included Evans' mother, older brother, and younger sister. "Both my parents were second– generation Jews," Evans said in his 1994 autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. "That was all they had in common." Evans admired his father, who was also well liked by his patients in Harlem. Unusual for the time, Archie had a staff of both white and African–American dentists and assistants.
Very early on, while still in elementary school, Evans decided he wanted to become an actor. His inspiration was the stars of the silver screen—James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and others. While Evans was growing up, radio was king, employing more actors than any other medium, including film. So Evans set his sights on becoming a radio actor. When he was 12 years old, Evans began to audition regularly for roles in radio, and within a few months, he landed his first part—that of a Nazi colonel on a show called Radio Mystery Theater. By the time Evans turned 14, he was acting regularly on a program called Let's Pretend. More radio roles followed in rapid succession.
Evans changed his last name while in junior high school at the insistence of his father, who had always felt that his boys should be named after his mother (Ms. Evan before she was married; Evans added the "s") rather than his father, who was not a good parent. Evans continued his acting career in radio through high school, also picking up occasional roles on television, which was just starting to take hold as a viable medium for entertainment.
After an unsuccessful bid to become an film actor in Hollywood, Evans headed back East, where he worked for his brother's by–then–thriving women's clothing manufacturing business. Evans and his brother struck it rich, and before he turned 25, Evans was a millionaire. The company's label, Evan–Picone, continued to be a trend–setter in women's fashion into the 21st century.
Wealthy and 26 years old, Evans thought his acting career was well behind him. But while in Beverly Hills on business in 1956, he was spotted poolside at the hotel he was staying in by the female star of a new film in production by Universal, The Man of a Thousand Faces. The film also starred one of Evans' early idols, James Cagney. The female star, Norma Shearer, wanted Evans to play a role in the film. He screen–tested with Cagney that day, and was cast the following day. And so, Evans, without even trying, finally broke into films.
Shortly after finishing his work on his first film, Evans was spotted by Twentieth Century Fox producer Darryl Zanuck in a night club. Zanuck did not even know that Evans was an actor, but he saw in him star potential, and he cast Evans in a film version of the Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises. In it, he played opposite Ava Gardner as her Mexican bullfighter lover.
It was during the making of this film that Evans found his true calling. Arriving on set in Mexico, he was instantly disliked by the cast, the writer, and the director, all of whom told Zanuck in no uncertain terms that Evans would make the film a failure. Zanuck came to the Mexican set to see for himself why Evans was so disliked. Evans turned on the charm for Zanuck during the filming of his scenes in the bullring. Afterward, Zanuck pronounced, as Evans reported in his autobiography, "The kid stays in the picture. And anybody who doesn't like it can quit!" Zanuck left the set without further discussion. Evans, who did indeed stay in the picture, decided then and there that what he really wanted to do was become a producer. As he put it in his autobiography, "It was then I learned what a producer was—a Boss. It was then I learned I wanted to be D.Z., not some actor desperate for a nod of approval."
Both The Man of a Thousand Faces and The Sun Also Rises came out within a few weeks of each other in 1957, to critical acclaim. For a brief while, Evans, by his account, was one of the most sought–after actors in Hollywood. But the offers quickly boiled down to roles in second–rate films. Evans, by his own admission, did not have the talents of a major film star. Then, too, his heart was in producing, not acting. After acting in several unmemorable minor films, Evans was given an ultimatum by his brother's company: either return to New York as an executive, or sell out his stake in the company.
Even as his marriage fell apart, Evans' star as a producer rose. A feature article about him the New York Times brought him to the attention of the heads of the Paramount movie studio, who hired him in 1966 to head the studio's European production office in London, England. It was an offer he could not refuse, and he had to back out of his contract with 20th Century Fox—all this before he produced a single film. Evans later credited the New York Times article, which was written by Peter Bart, with landing him the Paramount deal. Evans returned the favor a few months later by hiring Bart to be on his staff at Paramount after Evans was promoted and moved to Hollywood.
Evans' promotion put him in charge of production at the entire studio. At the time Paramount was dead last in earnings among the major Hollywood movie studios, and its owners were counting on Evans to improve its fortunes—they were not disappointed. The studio's first big hit under Evans was the 1968 film The Odd Couple. Based on the play by the same name by Neil Simon, the film became a smash hit, eventually spawning numerous sequels and a TV series.
Under the leadership of Evans, Paramount, tottering dangerously close to financial ruin when he took the helm, pulled back into the black. He followed up the success of The Odd Couple with Rosemary's Baby, also in 1968. It became the best–grossing film of the summer, and made its lead actress, Mia Farrow, a star. Goodbye Columbus in 1969 was the next hit for Paramount, and it too catapulted its lead actress, Ali MacGraw, to stardom. Evans was just as taken with MacGraw as the movie–going public; he married her the year the film came out. They had one child, a son named Joshua, before divorcing in 1972. Paramount produced many more hits under Evans, including 1968's Romeo and Juliet, 1970's Love Story, which starred MacGraw, and 1972's The Godfather. Under Evans, Paramount went from earning just five percent of the revenues of its parent company, to 55 percent, and became the top movie studio in Hollywood.
But while Paramount's fortunes soared, Evans' did not. Never earning percentages of his film company's profits, nor bonuses in addition to his salary, Evans found himself sliding into debt, and he left Paramount in 1974 to produce films on his own. His first effort as an independent producer, 1974's Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, was a hit. In 1977, Evans married his fourth wife, former Miss America Phyllis George. That marriage lasted eleven months. In 1980, Evans was prosecuted along with his brother for purchasing thousands of dollars worth of cocaine. He stayed out of jail, spending a year on probation. But it was the beginning of a decline for the producer. Two films ruined him financially in 1990. These were The Cotton Club and The Two Jakes. After his old friend Nicholson helped him financially, he attempted a comeback later in the 1990s by producing what turned out to be unmemorable thrillers. It was during this time, in 1994, that he published his autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. Evans suffered a series of debilitating strokes in 1998, and he required extensive rehabilitation. During his recovery period, he married Catherine Oxenberg after a five–day courtship. This fifth marriage was his briefest, lasting only a few days. "My fault," he later told People 's Jim Jerome. "My brain wasn't working right."
The Kid Stays in the Picture was made into a movie narrated by Evans himself, and released in 2002, to critical and popular acclaim. It made Evans into a celebrity once again. In May of 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Offers came rolling in, and he was soon back producing. Among his first efforts in this, his second comeback, was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The film, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, was released in 2003.
https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2004-Di-Ko/Evans-Robert.html
Articles https://therake.com/stories/robert-evans-the-last-tycoon/
https://www.vogue.com/article/robert-evans-producer-has-died
https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/robert-evans-last-days/
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-legacy-of-robert-evans-a-vexing-hollywood-legend
https://variety.com/2019/film/columns/robert-evans-rip-the-producer-who-stayed-in-the-picture-1203386453/
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/robert-evans-obituary
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/robert-evans-the-offer-true-stories
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/28/robert-evans-celebrated-hollywood-producer-of-chinatown-dies-aged-89
https://pagesix.com/2019/10/28/inside-the-wild-life-of-hollywood-movie-maestro-robert-evans/
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish Managers and Producers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books https://www.amazon.com/Kid-Stays-Picture-Notorious-Life/dp/0062228323
https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Lady-Sang-Robert-Evans/dp/0062286048
Biography- Bernie Brillstein
Bernard Jules "Bernie" Brillstein (April 26, 1931 – August 7, 2008) was an American film and television producer, executive producer, talent agent and personal manager. Brillstein was born in Manhattan, to Moe and Tillie Brillstein, who all shared the Manhattan home of his uncle, the vaudeville and radio performer Jack Pearl. Brillstein attended Stuyvesant High School, graduated from New York University, and later served in the military. Brillstein earned his way into show business in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency (WMA) in New York. He worked his way up to talent agent and by the 1960s he was a manager-producer of television programming for the company. Still associated with WMA, in 1964 he joined Management III to continue talent management. In the 1960s, he also co-founded the vocal group The Doodletown Pipers. By now living in Los Angeles, Brillstein formed The Brillstein Company in 1969. There, he continued to manage stars and develop television programming. He produced such popular television hits as Hee Haw, The Muppet Show and Saturday Night Live.
Brillstein later became manager of SNL alums Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Martin Short, and Lorne Michaels, as well as Jim Henson (of Muppets fame) and Paul Fusco (voice and operator of ALF). He produced such other television shows as Alf: The Animated Series, and Normal Life. He was also exclusive producer to the animation sequel The Real Ghostbusters (based on the hit movie).
In the 1980s, he met Brad Grey at a television convention in San Francisco. In 1991[4] the two formed a production company, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, which packages programming and manages talent. They were responsible for such shows as NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me!, The Larry Sanders Show and The Sopranos. As executive producer, Brillstein has been responsible for such successes as The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Dragnet, Ghostbusters II, Happy Gilmore and The Cable Guy. Brillstein sold his shares in the company to Grey, his one time protégé, in 1996. Grey sold his interest in the company in 2005. He also represented Nick Swardson for six years prior to his death.
Brillstein's 1999 memoir, Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead, was co-written with David Rensin. Two years later, he received the honor as recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, on April 18, 2001.
http://www.personalmanagershalloffame.org/bernie-brillstein-1.html
Articles
https://walkoffame.com/bernie-brillstein/
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/television/09brillstein.html
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Bernie_Brillstein
http://www.personalmanagershalloffame.org/bernie-brillstein-1.html
http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Bernie-Brillstein.html
https://deadline.com/2008/08/rip-bernie-brillstein-6621/
https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/hollywood-power-broker-bernie-brillstein-dead/article_271d39a8-89ea-56dd-af26-5d9ac401b475.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-aug-09-me-brillstein9-story.html
https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/bernie-brillstein/index.html
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish Managers and Producers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Go-Right-Hollywood/dp/1597775584
https://www.abebooks.com/Little-Stuff-Matters-Rules-Years-Living/30627495822/bd
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Go-Right-Hollywood/dp/B01JZNBJMK
https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Lies-Thats-Truth/dp/B000H2MABS
Shep Gordon
Shep Gordon is known in the entertainment industry as having an eye for talent and an innate understanding of what people find entertaining. After graduating from SUNY Buffalo, Shep moved to LA and in 1969 co-founded Alive Enterprises. Over the years, Gordon has been responsible for managing the careers of Alice Cooper, Groucho Marx, Raquel Welch, Luther Vandross, Kenny Loggins, and countless others. He’s also credited as creating the celebrity chef, which revolutionized the food industry and turned the culinary arts into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. His clients that include culinary legends, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, Nobu, Daniel Boulud and many more. In addition to the impact he’s had on the music, film and food industries, he’s also highly regarded for his philanthropic endeavors. Shep was named one of the 100 most influential people in Rolling Stone magazine. He was the subject of Mike Myers 2013 documentary - Supermensch The Legend of Shep Gordon. Anthony Bourdain ECCO will be releasing his book - They Call Me Supermensch A Backstage Pass To The Amazing World Of Film, Food, and Rock ’N’ Roll in September 2016.
Articles
https://www.wsj.com/video/shep-gordon-a-backstage-pass-into-the-world-of-rock-n-roll/33A590E9-1926-4C23-847B-8DF7F9527024.htmlhttps://www.kitv.com/kakou/aging-well/aging-well-famous-talent-manager-shep-gordon-says-gratitude-is-key/article_f1775ad1-ab4a-5ddd-8d1f-dd4e73474f94.html
https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/shep-gordon/
https://www.jordanharbinger.com/shep-gordon-interview-with-the-supermensch/
https://nypost.com/2016/09/17/shep-gordons-life-of-sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll-is-absolutely-amazing/
https://www.oprah.com/spirit/music-exec-shep-gordon-adopts-four-kids_1/all
https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/celebrity-maker-shep-gordon-mulls-the-reality-hes-helped-create/article_e85c47ef-2fdb-5d56-b572-c73baf8235f6.html
https://www.kushnerentertainment.com/the-music-makers-podcast-episodes/2021/04/02/episode-41-shep-gordon-the-greatest-manager-of-our-time-creating-history
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/02/5-lessons-learned-from-shep-gordon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/movies/supermensch-profiles-shep-gordon-a-talent-manager.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/shep-gordon-talks-alice-cooper-bond-legalizing-pot-creepy-fan-mail-108462/
Videos and Documentaries for all
Vintage Annals Archive Old School Kind and Bad Ass Jewish managers 1970's, 1980's and 1990's
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4zYKaPKme4iCoD6UKPfYCD0lg-aA9Lk
Books
https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Supermensch-Backstage-RocknRoll-ebook/dp/B00MMFN8QY
Website
https://www.shepgordon.com