Following the death of iconic Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub on Monday, numerous famous faces who worked with Weintraub over the years expressed their sorrow over the loss.
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Jerry Weintraub won three Emmy Awards in his career, one of them was for 2013 drama film “Behind the Candelabar” starring Matt Damon and Michael Douglas.
Weintraub’s most recent project was executive-producing the war-and-politics satire The Brink, which just premiered, for HBO. Today our friend died.
Rabbi Levi Cunin still remembers how decades ago, as a little boy, he visited the Malibu home of movie and music mogul Jerry Weintraub at his request with a crew from Chabad to kosher it – and gave the Hollywood producer the surprise of his life.
Meeting filmmaker Robert Altman led to into the film business.
A proud and involved Jew who described himself as “spiritual”, Weintraub championed a number of humanitarian and educational causes, both in his home state of California, as well as overseas.
“Barbara and I mourn the passing of our close and wonderfully irrepressible friend, Jerry Weintraub“, he tweeted, calling him an “American original”.
Weintraub was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx by his jeweler father, according to the Associated Press.
Weintraub set up successful tours for Sinatra and produced the television special Sinatra – the Main Event, as well as joint appearances with Denver.
Brad Pitt shared on Twitter that he loved Weintraub and will miss him.
He became chief of United Artists in 1985 but was ousted after five months amid reports of disagreements with the financier Kirk Kerkorian, who died last month. One thing stays the same: “I am continually stimulated and excited by talking with extraordinary people about extraordinary projects”.
In 1987, he attempted to establish his own studio, WEG, but it went belly up in 1990 after a string of flops including “My Stepmother Is an Alien”. Although Weintraub’s commercial success waned in the ’90s (as would happen to anybody who had a hand in Vegas Vacation), he saw a career renaissance when he handled production for a remake of Ocean’s Eleven in 2001.
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He is survived by his wife, Jane Morgan Weintraub, whom he married in 1965, as well as his longtime companion, Susan Ekins, four children and a brother.
