David Begelman (August 26, 1921 – August 7, 1995) was an American film producer, film executive and talent agent who was involved in a studio embezzlement scandal in the 1970s.
Life and career
Begelman was born to a Jewish family in New York City. His father was a Manhattan tailor. Following a brief reinstatement, Begelman was quietly fired. The studio released a statement saying he had suffered emotional problems.
Despite the pressure to remain quiet, Robertson and his wife Dina Merrill spoke to the press. David McClintick broke the story in The Wall Street Journal in 1978, later turning it into a best-selling book, Indecent Exposure (1982). Robertson later claimed he had been blacklisted during the 1980s for coming forward about the Begelman affair, and had few roles during this period.
Kirk Douglas, in his autobiography The Ragman's Son (1988), wrote of the scandal:
A writer for New West magazine, working on this story, queried Begelman's claimed alma mater, Yale University, listed in his Who's Who entry. Yale responded that Begelman had never attended that university. The New West article said that "although Begelman was indicted for forgery and grand theft, the Hollywood types were more outraged that he had listed Yale in Who's Who. Apparently they figured that everybody steals money. It was the fact that he lied about Yale that drove them crazy."
Judy Garland management
In the wake of the allegations about embezzling from Columbia Pictures, Jeanie Kasindorf, writing for New York Magazine and New West magazine in January 1978, reported that Begelman had also stolen money from Judy Garland when he was her agent in the early 1960s. Her reporting was based on files and canceled checks supplied by Garland's estranged husband Sid Luft, alleging that Begelman and a partner, agent Freddie Fields, had embezzled many thousands of dollars from the singer. It was discovered that several hundred thousand dollars were missing, much of it written in checks to "Cash" and endorsed by Begelman at various casinos in Las Vegas. Other entries in her accounts showed large sums paid for "protection" with no authorization, all approved by Begelman, though Garland had no personal security. In addition, a 1963 Cadillac convertible, given to Garland as partial payment for appearances on Jack Paar's television program, was titled to Begelman. As she was in negotiations with CBS at the time for her new television series, Garland paid rather than face the adverse publicity and potentially damaging the deal's prospects. Due to her dire financial situation at the time, Garland was forced to settle the suit for royalties owed her by Capitol Records that Begelman and Fields, as her agents, had collected but were holding because of the lawsuit.
Sherwood Productions / Gladden Entertainment
In January 1980, Begelman returned to the production world and became COO and president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signing a four-year contract worth $1.9 million. but with the exception of Fame, Clash of the Titans, and Poltergeist, he was unable to repeat his success at Columbia and was dismissed in 1982. After leaving MGM/UA, Begelman was offered a position to run a production company, Sherwood Productions, by backer Bruce McNall. Under Sherwood, Begelman backed WarGames (which was released by MGM), Mr. Mom, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and Blame It on Rio. According to the makers of Buckaroo Banzai, Begelman continued to engage in fraud: he reportedly inflated the budget figures to investors, but produced the films for much less and pocketed the difference.
When investor Nelson Bunker Hunt pulled out of Sherwood in 1984, Begelman took the slack and founded Gladden Entertainment (named after Gladyce, his wife) with the remaining assets and repartnering with McNall. There, he greenlit Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Short Time and Mannequin Two: On the Move. Short Time and Mannequin Two did poorly. In 1986, the company revealed that they filed a lawsuit against The Cannon Group, Inc. and Cannon Screen Entertainment, stemming from a decision for the previous agreement with Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment for removing two films from the slate, but the suit was settled on August 12, 1986. In 1988, McNall sold 40% of his ownership to foreign investors. At the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, Begelman revealed that the company had a distribution deal with MGM, Live Entertainment and Rank Film Distributors for 10-film and $150-million. However, Credit Lyonnais had placed a lien on Gladden's assets as the bank was owed $90 million. A petition was filed by Hollywood's three major talent guilds in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles to liquidate the company for failure to pay actors, directors and writers residuals in the amount of $4.1 million. Begelman left Gladden Entertainment to form Gladden Productions however, he was unable to secure financing for the new production company (Ironically, MGM now owns the rights to the Sherwood/Gladden films as a result of their purchase of the Epic library from PolyGram in 1998; PolyGram had acquired the library from Credit Lyonnais two years prior).
Personal life and death
Begelman was married four times. His first wife was Ester Begelman, a sister of a friend; she died of breast cancer after seven years of marriage. His second wife was Lee Reynolds; In 1975, he married Gladyce Largever, former wife of New York real estate developer Lewis Rudin; she died in 1986 of cancer.
Begelman became depressed over his Gladden Entertainment bankruptcy and failure to find funding for Gladden Productions. Begelman was found shot dead in a room at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on August 7, 1995, at the age of 73.