Swifty lazar movie#

His efforts enriched his many famous clients and brought him millions a year in commissions. Seemingly tireless, he was known for his elegant, custom-made wardrobe, his oversize eyeglasses and the fact that he repeatedly punctuated interviews with business phone calls.

Swifty lazar movie#

Lazar was known to have coaxed, blustered, coddled and even made threats in the course of winning record fees for his clients' books, plays, movie and television scripts and performances. Lazar bet that he could clinch five separate deals for the film star before supper one day, and did. It was given to him by Humphrey Bogart in the early 1950's after Mr. Lazar dubbed himself the 'Prince of Pitch,' but his more familiar nickname was Swifty. The cause was kidney failure, said Teresa Sohn, Mr. Irving Paul Lazar, the agent for scores of literary and entertainment luminaries, who was variously described as a brilliant wheeler-dealer, a lone-wolf dynamo and a manic egotist, died early Thursday night at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. Irving (Swifty) Lazar, 86, Dies Dynamic Agent and a Star Himself By PETER B. He was also portrayed by Toby Jones in the 2008 film version of Frost/Nixon. The play is closely based on real-life events. In the play Lazar negotiates a deal with David Frost on behalf of President Richard Nixon for Frost to interview Nixon. Swifty Lazar appears as a character in Peter Morgan's stage play, Frost/Nixon, first staged at the Donmar Warehouse, London on Augand played by actor Kerry Shale. At the time of his death, Lazar was working on his autobiography, Swifty: My Life and Good Times, which was completed by Annette Tapert and published by Simon & Schuster in 1995. Michael Korda wrote a 1993 New Yorker profile of Lazar, later incorporated into Korda's book, Another Life: A Memoir of Other People (Random House, 1999). Other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to cause given in 21 : lower extremities diabetes.' He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles next to his wife, Mary, who had died in January that same year from liver cancer. The Death Certificate states 'Imminent Cause: Chronic Renal Failure due to Glomerulo Sclerosis due to Hypertension. Doctors wanted to amputate, but Lazar, who was being treated at home via peritoneal dialysis, refused.

Lazar died in 1993, aged 86, from complications stemming from diabetes which eventually cut off circulation to his feet. His event was widely regarded as the most important Oscar celebration, and those who received invitations were regarded as the inner circle. He was renowned for his annual post-Academy Award parties that started at the famous Romanoff's, then moved to the Bistro Garden and finally to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Spago. Avildsen's Neighbors (1981), starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and he was an associate producer on two television miniseries, The Thorn Birds (1983) and Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985). Lazar was an executive producer (with Bernie Brillstein) of John G. A film version was produced during the same period. It was a huge success, playing on Broadway and on tour around the U.S. Arnold, agreed and the play Winged Victory was written by Moss Hart and produced by Hart and Lazar. The Air Forces commanding general, Henry H.

Army Air Forces that it produce a play to encourage enlistment and to raise funds for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Lazar's power became such that he could negotiate a deal for someone who was not even his client and then collect a fee from that person's agent.ĭuring World War II, Lazar, with Benjamin Landis, suggested to the U.S.

In addition to Bogart, Lazar became the agent representing the top tier of celebrities, including Lauren Bacall, Truman Capote, Cher, Joan Collins, Noël Coward, Ira Gershwin, Cary Grant, Moss Hart, Ernest Hemingway, Gene Kelly, Madonna, Walter Matthau, Larry McMurtry, Vladimir Nabokov, Clifford Odets, Cole Porter, William Saroyan, Irwin Shaw, President Richard Nixon and Tennessee Williams.

The moniker stuck but was a name he actually disliked. After putting together three major deals for Humphrey Bogart in a single day, he was dubbed 'Swifty' by Bogart. He moved to Hollywood in 1936 but maintained a presence in New York until after World War II when he moved to Los Angeles permanently. While practicing bankruptcy law during the early 1930s, he negotiated a business deal for a vaudeville performer and realized the income potential for acting as an agent. Irving Paul 'Swifty' Lazar (Ma– December 30, 1993) was an American talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors.īorn Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1931.