Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire - Softcover

Kathleen Sharp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1538512289 ISBN 13: 9781538512289

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, Inc., 2017

Synopsis

An exciting insider look at the most powerful couple to ever impact Hollywood.

Ever wonder why so many B actors wind up as A-grade politicians? Or how the casting couch worked? Acclaimed author Kathleen Sharp traces the influence of show business through the lives of its first power couple. Edie and Lew Wasserman built the world's largest talent agency, MCA, created the multibillion-dollar Universal Studios, and helped shape Washington, DC. Starting from MCA's birth in gangland Chicago, Lew represented stars such as Jimmy Stewart and Marilyn Monroe; pioneered TV with Leave It to Beaver and Miami Vice; spawned the blockbuster movie model with Psycho and Jaws; and developed a mega theme park. His savvy wife, Edie, was the daughter of a mob attorney, the queen of A-list parties, and Lew's secret agent who boosted their status. Yet, the couple was attacked by rivals, federal prosecutors, and their own proteges. Even so, over the course of seven decades they managed to vanquish their enemies and parlay their influence far beyond Sunset Strip into governors mansions, Senate chambers, and the White House. At the end, Edie and Lew became diplomats, kingmakers, and philanthropists, who elevated the fortunes of middle-class workers and California itself. Based on some four hundred interviews, this book features Janet Leigh, Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, John Belushi, Jean Stein, and Steven Spielberg along with the Kennedys, the Johnsons, the Reagans, and the Clintons. It's a fascinating read about how two kids from Cleveland created the largest entertainment conglomerate in the world and wound up ruling twentieth-century America.

About this title

About the Author

Kathleen Sharp is a speaker, award-winning journalist, and bestselling author whose top books have been adapted for film. She is the author of Blood Medicine: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever; Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire; In Good Faith; Stalking the Beast: A History of Hollywood through the King Kong Movies; and several anthologies. She is a former correspondent for the Boston Globe and has written for several magazines, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Elle, and Parade. She has also appeared on Book TV, ABC News, C-SPAN, and The Armstrong Williams Show, among others, and on dozens of national radio shows and consulted on film documentaries for Turner Classic Movies, the Biography Channel, and Bravo. She lives in Santa Barbara, California.

From Publishers Weekly

As a top executive at MCA, Lew Wasserman was one of the biggest agents in the movie industry, then topped that by becoming one of the most powerful studio heads ever, orchestrating the gradual takeover of Universal Studios starting in 1958. His wife, Edie, was equally powerful in the realm of the "Hollywood Wives," throwing parties where other executive spouses mixed with starlets like Janet Leigh. Sharp, the Boston Globe's Hollywood correspondent, covers much of the same territory as Connie Bruck's recent Wasserman bio, When Hollywood Had a King, but the attention she gives to Edie adds celebrity gossip to the mix as well as a new facet on the matter of MCA's ties to organized crime. She also sheds light on new aspects of Lew's career, like his guiding hand in the development of early videodisc technology. The book clarifies the frosty relationship between Lew and Ronald Reagan while revealing how Reagan may have colluded with MCA while heading the Screen Actors Guild, depriving SAG members of potentially lucrative residual benefits. While Bruck remains a better source on MCA's early years, Sharp offers additional insights into how Wasserman transformed a talent agency into a studio that produced nearly half of all prime-time programming in the late 1970s, then found creative ways to keep all the profits for itself. Drawing upon more than 450 interviews, Sharp blends corporate maneuvering and personal scandals into a gripping portrait of the original power couple. 16-page photo insert not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1538512289
• ISBN 13: 9781538512289
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 582