Charles George Bluhdorn (born Karl Georg Blühdorn; September 20, 1926 – February 19, 1983) was an Austrian-born American industrialist. He built his fortune in auto parts and commodities such as zinc, and following a 1966 acquisition became CEO, chairman and president of the Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures. Paramount was a former subsidiary of Gulf and Western Industries, which Bluhdorn purchased in 1956 when it was called the Michigan Plating and Stamping Company.
By 1966, Bluhdorn had grown Gulf and Western to revenues estimated at $182 million (equivalent to $1.881b in 2024); that year it ranked 346th in the Fortune 500 list. The company grew through acquisition, including the takeovers of Stax Records in 1968, Sega in 1969, and Simon & Schuster in 1975. Bluhdorn became known in Hollywood for his intense yet gregarious character. He appointed the reserved Frank Yablans as president of Paramount and the outspoken Robert Evans as head of production, an uneasy and ill-matched team that eventually oversaw the release of hit films The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), and Chinatown (1974).
He died suddenly in 1983 aged 56.
He was born in Vienna, Austria, to an Austrian Jewish mother Rosa Fuchs and father Paul Blühdorn. Per Who's Who in Ridgefield (CT), he was considered such a "hellion" that his father sent the 11-year-old to an English boarding school for disciplining. At 16, he moved to New York, studying at City College of New York and Columbia University. In 1946, Bluhdorn went to work at the Cotton Exchange, earning $15 a week. Other accounts say that he emigrated to the United States in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
Career
Gulf+Western
In 1956, Bluhdorn together with David "Jim" Judelson acquired Michigan Plating and Stamping, a small auto parts company that eventually grew into Gulf and Western Industries, a conglomerate that ranked 61st in the Fortune 500 by 1981.
Holdings of Gulf and Western were blue-chip names such as Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster, and Madison Square Garden, as well as less glamorous assets such as the South Puerto Rico Sugar Company, New Jersey Zinc, and Taylor Forge. Paramount was suggested to Bluhdorn by Sumner Redstone and the acquisition was encouraged by Paramount's head of publicity, Martin S. Davis. It was during Gulf and Western's ownership of Paramount that it went from being number nine at the box office based upon total receipt sales, to number one. After the marketing success of Love Story in 1970, Bluhdorn appointed Frank Yablans as president of the studio and Robert Evans as head of production. Together they oversaw the studio in its heyday, releasing such hits as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Chinatown. In 1974, Bluhdorn stepped down as chairman of Paramount and hired Barry Diller as Paramount's chairman and CEO. According to Diller, Bluhdorn and Yablans had a very tense relationship with Yablans and Evans, and Redstone actually sought greater influence over Yablans, who he regularly bribed.
Dominican Republic
Bluhdorn was very aware of the financial potential of the Dominican Republic and invested a significant amount of resources into its social and economic development. He is credited as being the father of the Dominican tourism industry.
In 1967, Gulf and Western paid $54 million for the South Puerto Rico Sugar Company. Most of the company's operations were in the Dominican Republic, where it owned the extensive Central Romana sugar mill in La Romana and of land. Nearly half of the land was used to produce sugar cane and, at the peak of the cane-cutting season, the company employed 19,000 people, making it the country's largest private employer as well as the largest taxpayer and landowner. Gulf and Western acquired Consolidated Cigar Corporation in 1968 and later shifted its Canary Island cigar-making operations to La Romana. It also created Corporación Financiera Asociada (Cofinasa), a Dominican finance company.
In 1969, the Dominican government and Gulf and Western Americas Corporation established an industrial free zone in La Romana. The zone was administered by Gulf and Western America's Operadora Zona Franca de La Romana subsidiary.
As Gulf and Western had purchased Paramount in 1966, Bluhdorn had plans to turn the island into a moviemaking mecca. To sell the idea he constantly invited producers, directors, writers and movie stars, to get them to appreciate the natural beauty of the country.
During the 1970s, Gulf and Western developed of the sugar mill's land into the Casa de Campo resort. Casa de Campo is home to three internationally renowned golf courses designed by Pete Dye – Teeth of the Dog, Dye Fore, and Links. One of Bluhdorn's Dominican friends, Oscar de la Renta, was hired to do interior design for Casa de Campo.
In the early 1980s, construction of the Altos de Chavón
Personal life
Bluhdorn married Yvette M. LeMarrec, formerly of Paris, in the 1950s.
Death
On February 19, 1983, Bluhdorn died aged 56 of a heart attack on his corporate jet while returning home to New York City from his Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic. His private funeral services were held at St. Mary's Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Among those who attended were friend and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The Charles G. & Yvette Bluhdorn Charitable Trust was a multi-million dollar charity overseen by their children. Between 2007 and 2013, the fund was spent down, and as of 2019 lists less than $3,000 in assets.
The 1990 film The Godfather Part III was dedicated to Bluhdorn, "who inspired it." His tumultuous relationship with Paramount executive Robert Evans was documented in Evans's 1994 biographical book The Kid Stays in the Picture and in the 2002 film of the same title, as well as the 2022 series The Offer, where Bluhdorn is portrayed by Burn Gorman.