Film And Tv Producer

Gail Choice, whose credentials are given as a film and TV producer, writer and director (all that, sans credits?), claims that the Hollywood La Brea Gateway warmed her Hollywood, feminist and civil rights heritage. She lambasted Christopher Knight, but had no fundamental critique for what he accurately described as "the most depressingly awful work of public art in recent memory." To whatever extent Choice may be right that the four women depicted are "pioneers" and "women of steel," the opposite of that vision and spirit has been (mis)

Prolific film and television producer Brian Grazer has bought an estate in Santa Monica. The 10,000-plus-square-foot Spanish-style house, built in 1990, has six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, according to the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor. Title documents show that the house sold in December. The property was not listed on the Multiple Listing Service and the sales price has yet to appear on public records, but area real estate agents estimated the price at $16 million.

Marvin Minoff, 78, a film and TV producer whose credits include the movies "Patch Adams" and "Dominick and Eugene" and David Frost's broadcast interviews with former President Nixon, died Nov. 11 at his Los Angeles home, his family announced. The cause was not disclosed. Minoff had been married since 1980 to actress Bonnie Franklin; they met that year on the set of the TV movie "Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger," which Franklin appeared in and Minoff produced. A former talent agent, Minoff formed a production company in 1985 with actor Mike Farrell.

If you want to understand why it's so hard for governments, both federal and state, to put their accounts in order, consider the recent comments of Bill Richardson, former nearly everything including governor of New Mexico and a semi-serious candidate for president. Richardson might well be a candidate for one of the "respected elder statesman" seats that come open every generation (sort of an American version of the British House of Lords, only chosen by the media instead of the government)

As associate producer of "The David Susskind Show" for the last seven of its 28 years on the air, I was alternately amused and appalled by the revisionist history of Robert Strauss' "Why Is Everybody Talking?" (Oct. 1). It is no diminution of Phil Donahue's talent to point out that it was not he but Susskind who created the "serious" talk show. "The David Susskind Show" started as "Open End" in 1958 and aired until eight months before David's death in 1987. During that time, David hosted the likes of Harry Truman, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Parker, Bertrand Russell and Abba Eban, introduced Turman Capote and many others to TV audiences, provided the stage for the opening salvo in the Gore Vidal-William F. Buckley media feud, prompted public outrage and sponsor cancellations by interviewing Nikita Khrushchev, and broke new ground by talking, seriously, with people never seen on national TV before: welfare mothers, feminists, cabdrivers, Mafia hit men, homosexuals coming out and (yes)

Marvin Minoff Producer on Frost Nixon interviews Marvin Minoff, 78, a film and TV producer whose credits include the movies "Patch Adams" and "Dominick and Eugene" and David Frost's broadcast interviews with former President Nixon, died Nov. 11 at his Los Angeles home, his family announced. The cause was not disclosed. Minoff had been married since 1980 to actress Bonnie Franklin; they met that year on the set of the TV movie "Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger," which Franklin appeared in and Minoff produced.

As a movie producer, Laura Ziskin has wrestled with studio executives, stars and lawyers. As a late-stage breast cancer patient, the "Spider-Man" maker has faced a far more perilous foe, and now Ziskin intends to do to malignant cells what she has done to box-office records: smash them. Ziskin, who also has produced two Academy Award broadcasts, is the driving creative force behind "Stand Up to Cancer," a star-filled one-hour benefit that will be broadcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS and NBC tonight at 8. Like any smart producer with some very big names in her Outlook contacts, Ziskin reached out to many people she had worked with in Hollywood.

Leigh Vance, 72, a writer and film producer who was a founding officer of the British Writers' Guild and former president of the International Writers' Guild. His 20 motion pictures included "The Black Windmill," "The Frightened City," "Women on the Stair" and "The Shakedown." He moved to Hollywood and wrote for and produced several TV series, including "Baretta," "Cannon" and "Hart to Hart." In Los Angeles on Oct. 15 of what was described as a brief illness.

Howard Christie, a film producer whose more than 40 movies featured actors as disparate as Bud Abbott and Rock Hudson, has died at his Ventura County home. His son, John, said Thursday that his father was 79 when he died Wednesday night in Oakview of what he described as a long illness. Christie was born in San Francisco and started out as an actor after attending UC Berkeley.

Gerald Mayer, a scion of the MGM magnate Louis B. Mayer family and himself a successful film and television producer and director, has died. He was 82. Mayer died Friday of complications of pneumonia at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. The Montreal-born Mayer, who grew up in Los Angeles, was the nephew of the MGM founder and the son of MGM studio manager Jerry G. Mayer.

Actress Shannon Lucio has just overpowered two rogue cops using everything from a pants belt to a shard of glass. She applied the "one mind, many weapons" technique taught to her by former Marine Sgt. Jon Barton, who was watching the action unfold as the cameras rolled inside a former shoe warehouse in North Hollywood on Sunday night. Barton trained Lucio, who plays a CIA-trained assassin in an indie action feature called "Insert," in various combat techniques and the proper way to fire handguns.

Marvin Minoff, 78, a film and TV producer whose credits include the movies "Patch Adams" and "Dominick and Eugene" and David Frost's broadcast interviews with former President Nixon, died Nov. 11 at his Los Angeles home, his family announced. The cause was not disclosed. Minoff had been married since 1980 to actress Bonnie Franklin; they met that year on the set of the TV movie "Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger," which Franklin appeared in and Minoff produced. A former talent agent, Minoff formed a production company in 1985 with actor Mike Farrell.

Marvin Minoff Producer on Frost Nixon interviews Marvin Minoff, 78, a film and TV producer whose credits include the movies "Patch Adams" and "Dominick and Eugene" and David Frost's broadcast interviews with former President Nixon, died Nov. 11 at his Los Angeles home, his family announced. The cause was not disclosed. Minoff had been married since 1980 to actress Bonnie Franklin; they met that year on the set of the TV movie "Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger," which Franklin appeared in and Minoff produced.

Daniel Melnick, a producer and former head of production at MGM and Columbia studios who was known for making bold, literate and carefully crafted films that included "Network," "All That Jazz" and "Roxanne," has died. He was 77. Melnick, who had recently undergone surgery for lung cancer, died Tuesday of multiple ailments at his home in Los Angeles, said his son, Peter. "He was an extraordinary producer and an extraordinary executive," Sherry Lansing, a former studio executive whom Melnick mentored, told The Times on Wednesday.

As a movie producer, Laura Ziskin has wrestled with studio executives, stars and lawyers. As a late-stage breast cancer patient, the "Spider-Man" maker has faced a far more perilous foe, and now Ziskin intends to do to malignant cells what she has done to box-office records: smash them. Ziskin, who also has produced two Academy Award broadcasts, is the driving creative force behind "Stand Up to Cancer," a star-filled one-hour benefit that will be broadcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS and NBC tonight at 8. Like any smart producer with some very big names in her Outlook contacts, Ziskin reached out to many people she had worked with in Hollywood.

Gerald Mayer, a scion of the MGM magnate Louis B. Mayer family and himself a successful film and television producer and director, has died. He was 82. Mayer died Friday of complications of pneumonia at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. The Montreal-born Mayer, who grew up in Los Angeles, was the nephew of the MGM founder and the son of MGM studio manager Jerry G. Mayer.

Daniel Melnick, a producer and former head of production at MGM and Columbia studios who was known for making bold, literate and carefully crafted films that included "Network," "All That Jazz" and "Roxanne," has died. He was 77. Melnick, who had recently undergone surgery for lung cancer, died Tuesday of multiple ailments at his home in Los Angeles, said his son, Peter. "He was an extraordinary producer and an extraordinary executive," Sherry Lansing, a former studio executive whom Melnick mentored, told The Times on Wednesday.

Larry Tucker, 67, producer and writer of such films as "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas" and "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice." Born in Philadelphia, Tucker had an eclectic career working as an actor and a prolific writer and producer for motion pictures and television. After working with humorist Mort Sahl at the Hungry i music and comedy club in San Francisco, Tucker joined Paul Mazursky and began writing for such TV staples as "The Danny Kaye Show."

As associate producer of "The David Susskind Show" for the last seven of its 28 years on the air, I was alternately amused and appalled by the revisionist history of Robert Strauss' "Why Is Everybody Talking?" (Oct. 1). It is no diminution of Phil Donahue's talent to point out that it was not he but Susskind who created the "serious" talk show. "The David Susskind Show" started as "Open End" in 1958 and aired until eight months before David's death in 1987. During that time, David hosted the likes of Harry Truman, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Parker, Bertrand Russell and Abba Eban, introduced Turman Capote and many others to TV audiences, provided the stage for the opening salvo in the Gore Vidal-William F. Buckley media feud, prompted public outrage and sponsor cancellations by interviewing Nikita Khrushchev, and broke new ground by talking, seriously, with people never seen on national TV before: welfare mothers, feminists, cabdrivers, Mafia hit men, homosexuals coming out and (yes)