Jerome Charles Weintraub (September 26, 1937 – July 6, 2015) was an American film producer, talent manager and actor whose television films won him three Emmys.[1][2]
He began his career as a talent agent, having managed relatively unknown singer John Denver in 1970, developing Denver's success through concerts, television specials, and film roles, including Oh, God! (1977). Weintraub has been credited with making "show business history" by being the first to organize and manage large arena concert tours for singers. Among the other performers whose tours he managed were Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Four Seasons, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Three Dog Night and The Carpenters.
Weintraub was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, and raised in the Bronx, the son of Rose (née Bass) and Samuel Weintraub.[3] His father was a gem dealer.[4] While growing up, he worked as a theater usher and as a waiter in the Catskills.[5]
After several years at MCA, where he first started work as a mailroom clerk, he left and formed his own personal management company. While at MCA, he was assistant to Lew Wasserman, whom he reportedly thought of as a father figure.[5]
Weintraub received an Emmy for producing An Evening with John Denver in 1975.[2]
Weintraub was the manager of singer and actor John Denver whom he signed in 1970. Weintraub first saw Denver performing at a small club in Greenwich Village and liked his easy, "mountaineer's" manner. Weintraub produced a dozen television music specials starring Denver, winning an Emmy for one of them.[7] Later, he produced the film Oh, God! (1977), starring Denver and George Burns. After Denver became a major success as a singer, he bought Weintraub a Rolls-Royce as a thank you gift. Weintraub said, "I couldn't help thinking that it wasn't too long ago that neither of us had bus fare."[7]
Denver and Weintraub's professional relationship ended acrimoniously, however, he regretted not being reconciled with Denver before the singer's death.[8][9]
In 1970, Weintraub convinced Elvis Presley and his manager, Col. Tom Parker, to do Presley's first national tour, something they had not considered, as Presley was by then a successful film star. The tour, with a modern sound system created for it, helped develop Weintraub's career as a concert promoter.[7]
He next promoted a tour for Frank Sinatra in 1974, whom Weintraub first put in Madison Square Garden's boxing arena. For the previous six years, Sinatra had basically retired due to the failure of his last album. Weintraub convinced him to do a tour, which led to Sinatra's "transformation from saloon singer to stadium singer", wrote biographer Will Friedwald. "When Frank came out of retirement and started doing stadiums, he didn't know if he would draw," recalled guitarist Al Viola. "Weintraub deserves most of the credit (after Sinatra, that is) for pulling this off," says Friedwald.[10]
Bob Dylan signed with Weintraub in 1978 after watching a Neil Diamond concert in Las Vegas, knowing that Weintraub managed the event.[11] Dylan began a world tour beginning in Japan which continued through Europe and the US, performing 114 shows in front of two million people.[12]
Biographer David Morrell writes, "We take this for granted now, but Weintraub's ability to organize these massive concerts made show-business history."[13]Led Zeppelin manager, Peter Grant, recalls that Weintraub worked hard at putting on these large shows. "It was an event," Grant says. And "Jerry Weintraub loved it."[14] Weintraub acknowledged his motivations: "When I believe in something, it's going to get done," he wrote in his autobiography.[6]
"When it comes to work, nobody works harder. When it comes to charities, nobody guilts better. And when it comes to friendship, he has no peers. That's Jerry's great talent. He doesn't just light up a room, he lights it on fire. He's a great producer, a great organizer, a great friend, and truly the greatest showman on earth."
Weintraub's first film as a producer was Robert Altman's Nashville (1975). Until then, United Artists producer David Picker had dismissed the script and would not make the film. A short time later, Weintraub was hosting a party for John Denver in New York, and among the guests he invited was Altman, whom he admired but had never met. "Altman pulled Weintraub aside", recalled screenwriter, Joan Tewkesbury, "and over a shared joint", Altman told Weintraub about the script. After another meeting with Altman, Weintraub was hooked on the story. However, no studio wanted to work with Altman, telling Weintraub that the director was a "pain in the ass". Weintraub eventually managed to find investors and gave Altman the $2 million he needed to make the film.[15]
The success of The Karate Kid (1984), led Kirk Kerkorian, then owner of MGM/UA, to appoint Weintraub as chairman and CEO of the neglected United Artists division, with Weintraub acquiring a minority stake, but clashes between the two men led to Weintraub's departure after five months.[16][17]The Karate Kid had several sequels, all produced by Weintraub, The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and The Next Karate Kid (1994).
Weintraub formed Weintraub Entertainment Group (WEG) in February 1987 with $461 million in financing from Columbia Pictures, Cineplex Odeon and others. WEG also signed a 20-year distribution deal with Columbia, and planned to release seven or more movies per year.[18] In 1990 WEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Weintraub would then produce for Warner Bros. WEG also subsequently settled a suit brought against it by Columbia.[19][20]
A television documentary film about Weintraub's life, called His Way, directed by Douglas McGrath, was broadcast on HBO in 2011. On a 2010 television appearance of The View, Weintraub made a handshake deal with Whoopi Goldberg to play the next God in a future Oh, God! sequel, should a favorable script become available. Weintraub had agreed to produce a new adaptation of The Legend of Tarzan for Warner Bros. which was released on July 1, 2016.[6][23]
He also began doing charitable work to help stop the ongoing genocide taking place in Darfur in 2007. Weintraub, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, and Brad Pitt cofounded the nonprofit organization, Not On Our Watch, dedicated to preventing mass killings in Darfur and other areas of the world. They raised $9.3 million to aid their relief efforts.[25]
Personal life
Weintraub was married twice. His first wife was Janice Greenberg, a dentist's daughter from his Bronx neighborhood who had been singer Julius La Rosa's secretary.[26] They had a son, Michael.
Weintraub's second wife was singer and actress Jane Morgan, who was 13 years his senior. Their relationship went from professional to personal and the two were married in 1965 when she was 41 and he was 28. They adopted three daughters. The couple separated in the 1980s, but never divorced. For 20 years until his death, Weintraub had been living with his girlfriend and longtime companion, Susan Ekins.[7]
Weintraub supported both political parties at various times in his life. However, it is widely noted that he was friends with both George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.[7] He also had a strong spiritual side, which he once described to television host Larry King. He was a devotee of The Lubavitcher Rebbe and believed in his mystical powers.[27]
Following the announcement of his death, celebrities and friends paid tribute to Weintraub. "Jerry was an American original, who earned his success by the sheer force of his instinct, drive, and larger-than-life personality," said former president George H.W. Bush, a longtime friend. "He had a passion for life, and throughout the ups and downs of his prolific career it was clear just how much he loved show business."[21]
"He was a force of nature," said actor and director Carl Reiner.[5] Actor Don Cheadle wrote, "Jerry was to me equal parts Godfather, rainmaker, caretaker, PT Barnum and friend."[31]George Clooney, star of the Ocean's movies, said that "in the coming days there will be tributes about our friend Jerry Weintraub. We'll laugh at his great stories, and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come, the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it. But not today. Today our friend died."[21]
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