According to United States media reports, Weintraub died of cardiac arrest on July 6 at the age of 77.
Advertisement
George Clooney and ex- USA president George HW Bush were among the first to pay tribute to the producer, whose credits also included Diner, Nashville and 1998’s The Avengers.
“A guy like Jerry comes along 1 in 10 million”, said Harold Matzner, Palm Springs philanthropist and owner of Spencer’s restaurant, who served with Weintraub on the Eisenhower board. He also said that with passage of time, his stories and accomplishments will get better, the way Weintraub always wanted.
“But not today. Today our friend died”. In the music industry, Weintraub worked with Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, John Denver, and Elvis.
Weintraub raised and borrowed US$500 million to create the Weintraub Entertainment Group, an independent production company that went bankrupt after three years.
He was working away right up until his death, He executive produced the foreign-policy satire “The Brink“, now on HBO-the Roberto and Kim Benabib series deals with a foreign-service flunky (Jack Black) and a vice-prone Secretary of State (Tim Robbins) during a crisis in Pakistan. Weintraub said, “I couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t too long ago that neither of us had bus fare”.
He shared an Emmy Award for co-producing the climate-change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously“, and shared another as a co-producer of HBO’s Liberace drama “Behind the Candelabra“.
Starting in the 1980s, Weintraub became known as one of the Republican Party’s most loyal supporters in Hollywood. He had a passion for life.
In 2010 Weintraub became a best-selling author with his New York Times best-seller When I Stop Talking You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man, a chronicle of his remarkable career and life journey.
Born September 26, 1937, in Brooklyn, Weintraub was raised in the Bronx, where his father was a jeweler. “You would have loved him”, Clooney added. He has four children, Michael, Julie, Jamie and Jodie, along with five grandchildren.
He was not shy to relish his Hollywood and Washington connection and its attendant perks.
Advertisement
Clooney’s 2001 Ocean’s Eleven remake was produced by Weintraub and the movie star took a break from his vacation in Italy to pay tribute to his late friend. To his family and friends, Amal (wife) and I send our love.
