Jerome Hellman (September 4, 1928 – May 26, 2021) was an American film producer. He is best known for being the 42nd recipient of the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only categ ...

for ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'' (1969). His 1978 film '' Coming Home'' was nominated for the same award.

Life and career

Hellman was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in New York City. He began his career as a talent agent starting with the Ashley/Steiner Agency and shortly set out on his own to form Jerome Hellman Associates, which represented some of the outstanding directors, writers and producers during the "golden age" of live television. Hellman had his first taste of producing when he took over the role of Executive Producer from his client, President and Producer Worthington C. Miner, in the final days of Unit Four Productions, a partnership of

George Roy Hill George Roy Hill (December 20, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' (1969) and ''The Sting'' (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Re ...

, Franklin Shaffner and Fielder Cook, producing live one-hour dramas on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

(1955–57). After leaving NBC, Hill, Shaffner and Cook moved on to directing assignments at ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of th ...

'', the first 90-minute TV drama series out of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's new studio on the West Coast. In 1959, Hellman dissolved his talent agency and turned to producing motion pictures exclusively. He partnered with

and produced his first film, ''

The World of Henry Orient ''The World of Henry Orient'' is a 1964 American comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tippy Walker, Merrie Spaeth, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald and Tom Bosley. It is based o ...

'' (1964), with

directing, starring

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

(in his first film made in America),

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

and Tom Bosley. Over the next 25 years he produced six more feature films: ''

A Fine Madness ''A Fine Madness'' is a 1966 American Technicolor comedy film based on the 1964 novel by Elliott Baker that tells the story of Samson Shillitoe, a frustrated poet unable to finish a grand tome. It stars Sean Connery (in the midst of his James Bo ...

'' (1966) starring

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

and

Jean Seberg Jean Dorothy Seberg (; ; November 13, 1938August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half of her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''Breathless'' immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema. Seb ...

; ''

'' (1969) starring

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...

and

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...

; ''

The Day of the Locust ''The Day of the Locust'' is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West set in Hollywood, California. The novel follows a young artist from the Yale School of Fine Arts named Tod Hackett, who has been hired by a Hollywood studio to do scen ...

'' (1975) starring

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films '' Citizen X'' (1995) a ...

, Karen Black,

Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...

and

William Atherton William Atherton Knight (born July 30, 1947) is an American actor, best known for portraying Richard Thornburg in ''Die Hard'' and its sequel and Walter Peck in ''Ghostbusters''. Early life Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut, the son ...

; '' Coming Home'' (1978) starring

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Jane Fonda, various accolades including two ...

and

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver ...

; '' Promises in the Dark'' (1979), also directed by Hellman, starring

Marsha Mason Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in '' Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), '' The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chapter Two ...

and

Ned Beatty Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in ...

; and '' The Mosquito Coast'' (1986) starring

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom ...

and

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He ...

. His collaboration with director

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

and screenwriter

Waldo Salt Waldo Miller Salt (October 18, 1914 – March 7, 1987) was an American screenwriter who won Academy Awards for both ''Midnight Cowboy'' and '' Coming Home''. Early life and career Salt was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Winifred (n ...

in the production of ''Midnight Cowboy'' garnered seven Academy Award nominations and won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. This creative team would last through ''The Day of the Locust'' and the early production stages of ''Coming Home''. ''Coming Home'' was directed by

Hal Ashby William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The R ...

and received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. It won Academy Awards for Jon Voight (Best Actor), Jane Fonda (Best Actress), and

Robert C. Jones Robert Clifford Jones (March 30, 1936 – February 1, 2021) was an American film editor, screenwriter, and educator. He received an Academy Award for the screenplay of the film '' Coming Home'' (1978). As an editor, Jones had notable collabor ...

and

Nancy Dowd Nancy Dowd (born 1945) is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter most famous for her films ''Slap Shot'' and '' Coming Home''. Career Dowd is a graduate of the UCLA Film School. Her brother Ned Dowd inspired the story behind ''Slap Shot'' base ...

(Best Original Screenplay). Hellman's seven feature films garnered seventeen Oscar nominations and won six. In 1995 he was a member of the jury at the

19th Moscow International Film Festival The 19th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 July 1995. The Golden St. George was not awarded. Jury * Richard Gere (United States – President of the Jury) * Friedrich Gorenstein (Germany) * Aurelio De Laurentiis (Italy) ...

. Hellman had a stroke twelve years prior to his death. He died after a long illness at his home in

South Egremont, Massachusetts The South Egremont Village Historic District encompasses most of the village of South Egremont, Massachusetts, a well-preserved village whose architecture has seen relatively little alteration since the 1840s. It is located along Massachusetts ...

on May 26, 2021, at age 92.

Filmography

Producer

*''

'' (1964) *''

'' (1966) *''

'' (1969) *''

'' (1975) *'' Coming Home'' (1978) *'' Promises in the Dark'' (1979) also director *'' The Mosquito Coast'' (1986)

Actor

*''

Being There ''Being There'' is a 1979 American satire film directed by Hal Ashby. Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosiński, it was adapted for the screen by Kosiński and the uncredited Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers an ...

'' (1979) - Gary Burns

Awards and nominations

(1970), ''

'' (1969) *Academy Award nomination for Best Picture (1979) '' Coming Home'' (1978)

References

External links

* *Elizabeth Taylor presenting Jerome Hellman with the Best Picture Oscar for ''Midnight Cowboy'' at the 42nd Academy Awards, 1970 /www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnPcKk3YO3s on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellman, Jerome 1928 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American Jews Businesspeople from New York City Film directors from New York City Film producers from New York (state) People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award