WhatsNew2Day – Latest News And Breaking Headlines
Mort Engelberg, who was a producer of films such as Smokey and the bandit and The big easy before transitioning into politics as a “advance man” for Bill Clinton and other presidential candidates, died Saturday in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 86 years old.
“He was a wonderful person, a wonderful husband. “He loved the movie business and she loved his work with President Clinton,” said his wife, Helaine Blatt. The Hollywood Reporter. “He told the best stories of anyone I’ve ever met, the best jokes.”
Born and raised in Memphis, Engelberg graduated from the University of Illinois and then spent a year working on a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri. He left school before completing that degree and worked as a journalist for a few years before moving to Washington in 1961 to work for Sargent Shriver, the director of the then newly formed Peace Corps, and then followed Shriver to the Office of Economic Opportunity. . the headquarters of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty.
But when the Vietnam War began to defund Johnson’s programs, Engelberg left politics, moved to New York and took a job at MGM in 1967. He moved to United Artists, where he assisted on multiple James Bond films. The studio later moved its Los Angeles office to him, where he worked as assistant to the president of production.
Engelberg eventually took on the role of producer, where he worked on the smoked films, starring Burt Reynolds, 1986 The big easy one, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, along with leading man Steve McQueen The hunter (1980).
His other credits include 1985. The heavenly child; Dom DeLuise’s 1979 comedy ‘Hot Stuff’; 1987 maid to order and Three for the road; and 1988 Fright night part 2. He was executive producer in 1988. Remote control and There goes the neighborhoodwhich was his last film.
In 1984, he entered politics in a big way, volunteering as an advance man (someone who handles publicity for political candidates, scouting locations for campaign stops, generating large crowds, and making sure events run smoothly). for Walter Mondale’s presidential race. in 1984 and again for Michael Dukakis’ presidential bid in 1988.
Although neither of them won their campaigns, in 1991, Engelberg again offered himself as an advance man, this time for the presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, who would later win. He continued to work with Clinton in his second presidential campaign and after the presidency.
“He traveled a lot with Clinton; He loved that man,” Blatt said, noting that he never received money for his campaign work. “He always volunteered. He always said, ‘You can’t fire me.’”
In 1992, he was asked why he had left cinema to devote himself to the grueling schedule of a political campaign. He said Los Angeles Times who found the work “therapeutic” and a “wonderful relief” from the entertainment industry.
“On the one hand, it’s not entirely altruistic,” he said. “Los Angeles is a one-industry city, and here everything is ‘how did your photo do’ or ‘how did your friend’s photo do’ or ‘are you going to make this deal or that deal?’ You have one constituency in the film business and that is yourself. Whereas in politics (and I know this sounds pretentious), politics is about something. Choosing the next president is a very important thing.”
Years later, he was asked again about his role in politics, noting how much he enjoyed his work.
“It’s a big responsibility, but also a lot of fun,” Engelberg said The New York Times in 2016. “It’s something I’ve really loved over the years.”
Until his death, Engelberg told anyone who asked him about retirement that he was not retired: “He said he was a producer,” Blatt said, noting his love of Hollywood.
In 2016, she married Blatt, her lifelong love, after 26 years of dating, when she was 79 years old. “When I turned 75, I convinced him to marry me. He said, ‘Okay, we’ll get married, but there won’t be a wedding.’ It was a small thing, a party with all my friends,” she remembers fondly.
The couple had no children. In addition to Blatt, Engelberg is survived by his brother and “best friend,” Steve Engelberg; a niece, Liza Pahlberg; and a nephew, Danny Engelberg.