Bauer Benedek Agency

Former United Talent Agency President and Bauer Benedek Agency founder Martin Bauer has formed his own talent management/production company, Bauer Co. The announcement came five months after Bauer stepped down as president of UTA and served as a consultant to the agency until earlier this month. Bauer co-founded UTA in 1990, when Bauer Benedek merged with the Leading Artists agency.

Hollywood actress Kelly McGillis, best known for starring roles in "Top Gun," "Witness" and "The Accused," is expected to join the board of directors of the Grove Shakespeare Festival, according to its artistic director, Thomas F. Bradac. Bradac--who was McGillis' drama teacher at Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach during the mid-'70s--said she was nominated to the board by the Grove trustees on March 28.

Claims of "nationwide talent searches" are often the stuff of publicity press kits. But for the Geffen Co.'s "Men Don't Leave," released here Friday by Warner Bros., casting director David Rubin insists he "truly scoured the country" to find two fresh performers for the crucial roles of star Jessica Lange's young sons.

In 1979, literary agent Martin Bauer passed on an offer that seemed too good to refuse. United Artists was willing to pay $1.5 million for the movie rights to "Thy Neighbor's Wife," Gay Talese's treatise on sex in America. Bauer turned UA down, figuring he could get even more. He was right. In the end, UA coughed up a record-setting $2.5 million. Incredibly, no movie was ever made from the book. Seven years later, the book business has undergone a chapter and verse metamorphosis.

Four months ago, Hollywood agent John Lesher sent an internal e-mail to his colleagues at Endeavor, assuring them that rumors about his leaving to become head of Paramount Pictures' specialty film unit were completely untrue. On Monday, in a classic Hollywood turnabout, Lesher's 15 partners at Endeavor issued a statement congratulating him on landing the job he once claimed not to be taking. "We are thrilled for John Lesher and his new role at Paramount Classics," the statement said.

To understand the topsy-turvy world of Hollywood talent agencies these days, a tennis court in Iowa Falls, Iowa -- population 5,435 -- is a good place to start. It was there in the early 1980s that teenagers Patrick Whitesell and Suhail Rizvi formed a lasting friendship while practicing their serves. Two decades later, they're still playing on the same court. Whitesell is a partner at Endeavor Agency; Rizvi is the new co-owner of International Creative Management.