Producer Jerry Weintraub (1937 -2015)
Music manager, promoter, film producer and consummate showman, Jerry Weintraub died today at the age of 77. He will forever be remembered as “Jerry Weintraub Presents” followed by something that was bound to be bigger than life.
When first breaking into the entertainment industry, Weintraub worked for RCA, before eventually moving into management. Throughout his remarkable career, Weintraub managed and promoted some of the biggest acts in the history of music including Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, The Four Seasons, John Denver, Led Zeppelin, The Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and Elvis Presley.
One of his clients was singers/actress Jane Morgan, whom he would eventually marry in 1965 (and separate from in the 1980s, before moving in with girlfriend Susie Ekins). With an interest in breaking into film and television, he produced a number of memorable concerts, that were known for being bigger than life productions, including An Evening with John Denver, Neil Diamond: Live at the Greek, The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait, Rocky Mountain Holiday with John Denver and the Muppets, and the unforgettable Frank Sinatra: The Main Event.
A year after producing his first concert for TV, he moved into feature films, first with the country music film Nashville (a perfect fit), and followed by the John Denver vehicle Oh God, Barry Levinson’s Diner, and the notorious Cruising. But the two films series would become his biggest money-makers and put him at the top of the film industry; The Karate Kid (four films and a TV series) and the remake series of the Oceans 11 films. The remake of The Karate Kid would be his final feature film, eventually turning his attention to producing for TV and documentaries.
Weintraub produced the award-winning Behind the Candelabra, and documentaries 41, Red Army, and Years of Living Dangerously. His most recent project, the Tim Robbins-Jack Black series The Brink, premiered just last month on HBO, and he was still working on the production of the upcoming series Westworld (also to air on HBO). Weintraub tended to stay behind the camera of his films, although he did make appearances in his films Vegas Vacation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and the Ocean’s Eleven films (always as a different character).
He appeared in his own biographical documentary, My Way. In that documentary, Weintraub offered a glimpse of his big personality, candid nature, and the bravado which could alienate people as much as captivate them. Qualities which made his a great business man in the entertainment world.
His memoir, “When I Stop Talking You’ll Know I’m Dead:Useful Stories From a Persuasive Man” was published in 2010.
Jerry made waves in 2010 when he revealed his unique twenty year relationship with his wife, and the woman he called his significant other. In 2011, Ron Bennington sat down with Weintraub and Jerry discussed the importance of both women in his life, along with many candid details about his one of a kind career. You can hear a clip from that interview below, but if you want to get a great picture on the man Weintraub was, listen to the entire interview, and hear him talk about his life and career.
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