Hollywood agent Phil Gersh, whose client list included such greats as Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton, David Niven, Harrison Ford and “Sound of Music” director Robert Wise, has died of natural causes at the age of 92, his family said Tuesday.
Gersh, who died on Monday at his Beverly Hills home, spent more than 60 years in showbusiness, becoming a leading figure in Hollywood’s golden years when the movie business thrived on glamour and passion, rather than corporate boardroom decisions.
Gersh is credited with persuading director Billy Wilder to take a chance on casting Bogart -- who became a close friend --out of his tough guy role and into a romantic role in ”Sabrina”. He also suggested that Wise try his hand at a musical -- namely “The Sound of Music”.
Born in 1911 to Russian immigrant parents who ran a New York City delicatessen, Gersh moved to California after his sister married Paramount executive Sam Jaffe. He attended UCLA, worked in the Paramount prop department and then joined Jaffe’s agency as a $15 per week office boy.
He quickly became an agent in his own right, making a name for signing young, upcoming directors such as Wise, Joseph Losey and Richard Fleischer.
After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II, Gersh returned to California in 1945 and reentered the agency business with Famous Artists Agency. In 1949 he founded his own business, The Phil Gersh Agency.
In the late 1970s, he was joined by his son Bob, who would represent actors Cindy Williams, Dennis Quaid and Michael J. Fox. His other son David left a career in law to join the agency in the late 1980s, expanding the literary department of the agency with the founding of a New York office in 1992.
The firm was renamed The Gersh Agency in the early 1990s. Gersh was still coming into the office most days until March.
An avid art collector, Gersh was a founder of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Beverly Hills Fine Arts Committee. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Motion Picture Television Fund.
In addition to his sons, Gersh is survived by his wife of 59 years, Beatrice Aberle Gersh, his sister Pearl Sindell and five grandchildren.