Longtime Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub dies at 77

“Ocean’s Eleven” producer Jerry Weintraub has passed away at the age of 77 due to cardiac arrest in Santa Barbara, California on July 6, and it seems like the industry is mourning over the tragic incident.

Ex- US President George H.W. Bush, who was a close friend, wrote, “Barbara and I mourn the passing of our close and wonderful irrepressible friend, Jerry Weintraub“.

George Clooney said that in the coming days, there will be many tributes about Weintraub.

The Karate Kid (1984) was a sleeper hit for Weintraub, prompting MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian to put him in charge of his United Artists unit. He left behind projects like the newly premiered HBO series “The Brink” starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins and the 2016 release of “Tarzan” starring Samuel L Jackson and Alexander Skarsgard, Variety reports.

Apart from producing, Weintraub occasionally made onscreen appearances as well, especially in all three films of Ocean’s Eleven series as Denny Shields, a high-roller gambler and Gilly from Philly in “Vegas Vacation”.

He penned a memoir in 2010 titled “When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man”, the basis of which was used to produce the HBO biographical documentary about Weintraub called His Way. “I said, ‘You bastards, how did you pull this off!!”

Born and brought up in Brooklyn, Weintraub ventured into show business in 1970 by becoming the personal manager of singer and actor John Denver.

Weintraub first began his career as a movie producer after meeting director Robert Altman at a Weintraub-produced John Denver performance. He worked in the mail room at the talent agency William Morris before becoming an agent at MCA, where he was mentored by the formidable power broker Lew Wasserman.

Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub has died at the age of 77.

“I love my work, so it actually feels more like fun”.

“I read so many things I hate”, he said, “that when I read something I love I want to run out and make it. Which is what I did”. “You would have loved him”, Clooney wrote.

Weintraub is survived by his wife, Jane, a son, Michael, from an earlier marriage, and three adopted daughters with Morgan. The pair separated but never divorced. He was popular with everyone from politicians to Hollywood stars.

The late AP Entertainment Writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical material for this story.