Famous Talent Agents

Liv Lindeland, born December 7, 1945, in Norway, is a Norwegian model, actress, and talent agent. Playboy magazine named her Playmate of the Month for January 1971 and Playmate of the Year for 1972. Alexas Urba photographed her original pictorial. Cyd Charisse is Liv Lindeland's daughter-in-law.

Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and engineer. He was the youngest of the Marx Brothers. Marx appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, spanning 1929 to 1933. He left the Marx act to become an engineer and theatrical agent.

Marty Ingels had an exuberant, sometimes oppressive, comic personality. Ingels survived a failed television run, ending with the sitcom "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" (ABC, 1962-63). In the 1970s, Ingels became a high-priced broker for celebrity clients in television commercials. He gained respect as the husband of actress Shirley Jones, though their marriage had its difficulties. During the 1990s and 2000s, Ingels faced numerous lawsuits.

Jamie M. Gold, born August 25, 1969, is an American television producer, talent agent, and poker player based in Malibu, California. Gold won the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. That victory was the fourth largest single payout in poker tournament history. Gold now manages production for Buzznation and competes in major poker tournaments.

Ari Emanuel, born March 29, 1961, is an American talent agent and co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor (WME), an entertainment and media agency. Emanuel was a founding partner of the Endeavor Talent Agency. He helped shape its June 2009 merger with the William Morris Agency.

Jerry Weintraub produced films like "Nashville" and the "Ocean's Eleven" series. Weintraub also produced many Broadway shows and concerts, including an Elvis Presley tour across the nation. Weintraub fit the producer role. He was silver-haired, lightly tanned, and optimistic, but deeply superstitious. He avoided talking much about the past or future, which was a poor choice given the stories he possessed.

David L. Lander became best known as Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman, one of the annoying upstairs neighbors on the popular sitcom "Laverne and Shirley." Squiggy and his goofy friend Lenny actually started before the show ran. Lander and his partner Michael McKean first wrote the characters in the late 1960s while they studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. They sharpened these characters during their time in the 1970s Los Angeles improv group, The Credibility Gap. Producer Garry Marshall later devised a spin-off.

Bernie Brillstein was a tough dealmaker and a popular Hollywood personality. He managed talent and produced. Brillstein had many clients, from the quiet muppeteer Jim Henson to the wild John Belushi. Both fit his personality: warm, genial, passionate, and outspoken. Before becoming a top manager, Brillstein climbed the William Morris Agency ladder, starting in the mailroom.

Michael Steven Ovitz, born December 14, 1946, is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 as a talent agent and chaired it until 1995. Ovitz later became President of The Walt Disney Company from October 1995 to January 1997.

Sue Carol, born October 30, 1906, died February 4, 1982, was an American actress and talent agent. In 1927, a director offered her a film role at a Los Angeles social function. Carol accepted and played minor parts. Her film career spanned the late 1920s and 1930s. After that ended, she became a talent agent. Her last marriage involved one of her clients, Alan Ladd, from 1942 until his death in 1964.

Edward Small was an American producer. He produced films like "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Man in the Iron Mask," and "The Corsican Brothers."

Charles K. Feldman was a leading talent agent who switched to producing in the 1940s.

William Lee Tipton, born December 29, 1914, died January 21, 1989, was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. Tipton assumed a male gender identity for decades. Family and friends learned of Tipton's female birth sex only after his death.

Lewis Robert Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American talent agent and studio executive. He sometimes created and later dismantled the studio system over six decades. He also managed MCA.

Bernie Weintraub (died January 16, 2010) was an American talent agent and founding partner of the Paradigm Talent Agency in 1993. Weintraub was born in the Bronx, New York. He served in the United States military during the Korean War. Weintraub co-founded Robinson Weintraub (Robinson, Weintraub, Gross and Associates), a "boutique" literary agency. In 1993, Robinson Weintraub merged with other literary and talent agencies to form the Paradigm Talent Agency, making Weintraub a founding partner. Weintraub acted as an agent for clients.

Richie Jackson produces theater and television.

Don Arden (born Harry Levy; January 4, 1926 – July 21, 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed acts like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Move, Black Sabbath, and Electric Light Orchestra. Arden earned a reputation in Britain for aggressive, sometimes illegal business tactics. This earned him the nicknames "Mr Big," the "Yiddish Godfather," and the "Meyer Lansky of Pop." He married Hope Shaw, a former ballet dancer/teacher, who died in 1999. Don Arden was the father of David Levy and Sharon Osbourne.

Jason Trawick acts as a talent agent and manager.

George King (1899 – June 26, 1966) was an English actors' agent, film director, producer, and screenplay writer. King worked on productions like quota quickies. He directed several of Tod Slaughter's melodramas, including the 1936 film The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Lew Grade, Baron Grade, OStJ, KC*SS (December 25, 1906 – December 13, 1998), born Louis Winogradsky, was a British media proprietor and impresario. Grade began as a dancer, then became a talent agent. Grade started looking at television production in 1954. He partnered to win franchises for the new ITV network, creating Associated Television (ATV). Grade worked in the United States and knew about selling television programming to American networks. The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), commonly known as ITC, was involved.

Maggie Renzi is an actress, film producer, teacher, and talent agent.

Mary Jo Slater, born April 19, 1946 in Trenton, New Jersey, is an American casting director and producer for film, television, and theatre. She has over 100 movie credits. Her mother was Anna Mae (Sweeny) and Leonard Joseph Lawton. Slater worked as a production assistant for Mark Twain Tonight! and got her first casting role for the 1977 Broadway revival of Hair. Slater cast five more theatre productions before moving to film and television. Slater earned five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting.

Norman Ellard Nixon, born October 11, 1955, is an American retired professional basketball player. He played twelve seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nixon was a two-time NBA All-Star. He won two NBA championships with the Lakers against the Philadelphia 76ers during their Showtime era in the 1980s.

Milton H. Bren produced films.

Noel Marshall (April 18, 1931 – June 30, 2010) was an American agent, co-producer, brief director, and actor. Marshall moved to Hollywood, California in his 20s. He started investing in films in the 1970s, including William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. Marshall and his family—his wife Tippi Hedren and step-daughter Melanie Griffith—began production on Roar. Roar took 11 years to make. The production involved many accidents, causing injuries and damage on set. About 70 people got hurt during the making of it.

Rosetta LeNoire was a senior citizen before America recognized her appeal. America discovered her allure through her appearances as Nell Carter's mother on the NBC sitcom "Gimme a Break" in the 1980s and as Mother Winslow on "Family Matters" in the 90s. LeNoire was more than a Broadway veteran. She danced with her godfather Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. She did experimental TV in the 40s. She founded a respected theater company. LeNoire loved to perform so much that she would perform Shakespeare at a convalescent home if it was her only venue, which she has.

Bastian Pastewka, born April 4, 1972, is a German actor and comedian. In Bochum, he gained wider recognition in Germany around 1996 as a regular on Die Wochenshow (The Weekly Show), a mock news program. Pastewka used quirky, off-beat characters. These included fruity sex talk show host Brisko Schneider and Ottmar Zittlau, an unemployed, sweatsuit-wearing dimwit. Pastewka starred in German comedy films. He starred in Der WiXXer (2004) and Neues vom WiXXer (2007), which spoofed 1960s Edgar Wallace crime dramas.

Myron Selznick, born October 5, 1898, died March 23, 1944, was an American film producer and talent agent.

William B. Hawks was a film producer.

Brett Vincent manages, agents, and promotes comedy in the UK. He currently represents Australian comedians Jim Jeffries, Glenn Wool, Pete Johansson, and Carl Donnelly. In 2006, he invented a new marketing tool for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: the first multi-media flyer. A Chortle Award nomination for 'Best Offstage Contribution in Comedy' came in 2007. He won 'Best Promoter' at the Fringe Report Awards in 2008. Brett Vincent also works as a Silent Disco DJ.

Augustus Dudley Peters (1892–1973) was a British literary agent. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was the fourth of seven children of a farmer. An aunt informally adopted him at age three and lived in England. That aunt studied at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hampstead and St. John's College, Cambridge. After editing magazines and critiquing drama, Peters started his literary agency in 1924. He represented major writers like Hilaire Belloc, J. B. Priestley, Evelyn Waugh, Arthur Koestler, Kingsley Amis, and Rebecca West. From 1959, he began representing others.

Cassian Elwes is an English producer and director. He produced "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," "Farewell Amor," and "Dallas Buyers Club."

Ian Adie Copeland (April 25, 1949 – May 23, 2006) was an American music promoter and booking agent. He helped start the new wave movement in the United States.

Shelley Stevens is the mother and talent agent for actress Natalie Portman.

Erna Baumbauer (8 January 1919 – 30 January 2010) was a German casting agent. The Hollywood Reporter called her the "grand dame of German casting agents" for her long career in the German film industry. One client, actor Ulrich Mühe, nicknamed her "the Queen of Bavaria."

Freddie Fields founded the Creative Management Association. He was a former talent agent for Hollywood stars like Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Robert Redford, Liza Minnelli, Ryan O'Neal, Barbra Streisand, Steve McQueen, and Woody Allen.

Few people know Erwin Stoff, but he is a top Romanian-born export to Hollywood. Stoff founded Three Arts Entertainment, a successful boutique talent agency. Keanu Reeves remains his main client. As manager-producer, Stoff helped on many of Reeves' major projects. Stoff's name skips credits on films like "Speed" because producer credits ran out. Reeves credits for Stoff include "The Matrix" (1999) and the 2008 remake of "The Day"

Richard Clayton (June 12, 1915 – September 29, 2008) was an American actor who became a talent agent. During his time as an agent, he represented high-profile talent such as Jane Fonda, James Dean, and Burt Reynolds.

Thelma White acted in "Reefer Madness," "Mary Lou," and "Wanted By the Police."

Lee Wolfberg acted, produced TV shows, managed talent, and served as an agent.

Leslie Berger works as an actress, comedienne, presenter, consultant, talent agent, salesperson, and entrepreneur.

Milton "Gummo" Marx (October 23, 1892 – April 21, 1977) performed, acted, and joked as an American vaudevillian performer, actor, comedian, and theatrical agent. He was the second youngest of the five Marx Brothers. Milton Marx was born in Manhattan, New York City. He worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit. Milton left acting when the U.S. Army drafted him during World War I, years before his brothers, Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo, started their film careers.

Victor M. Orsatti produced films.

Bryan William Lourd, born November 5, 1960, is an American talent agent. He has been a partner, managing director, and co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) since October 1995.

Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress. Her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story made her famous.

Dragoș Bucur (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdraɡoʃ ˈbukur]; born June 13, 1977) is a Romanian actor. He serves as an ambassador for the Youth of the Move program by the European Commission. Dragoș Bucur presents the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition/Visuri la cheie on Pro TV. Dragoș Bucur won the Shooting Stars Award, the European Film Promotion annual acting award for up-and-coming actors, at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010. He earned an acting degree from Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in Bucharest, Romania. His roles in "Polic" made him known.

Samuel Charles Cohn (May 11, 1929 – May 6, 2009) was a talent agent at International Creative Management, a firm he helped create in Manhattan, New York City. Cohn was one of the most powerful agents in the 1970s and 1980s. His client list included top stars in theater and film. Some clients included Paul Newman, Woody Allen, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Dianne Wiest, Jackie Gleason, Dame Maggie Smith, Robert Altman, and E.L. Doctorow. Time magazine called Cohn "the first s".

Katharine "Kay" Brown Barrett (December 7, 1902 — January 18, 1995) was a Hollywood talent scout and agent starting in the 1930s. She gained fame bringing Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind to David O. Selznick's attention in 1936. She had a long career as a representative, talent scout, and agent with Leland Hayward, MCA, and International Creative Management ("ICM").