Henry and Roz Rogers
Encyclopedia
Henry C. Rogers and Roz Rogers were a couple in Hollywood who were important in the public relations business during its golden era.
. Credited with being the founder of modern day publicity the New York Times wrote; “Henry C. Rogers, transformed the seedy world of the Hollywood press agent into a plush-carpet profession. Rogers was known as the man who elevated industry ethical standards, particularly through his insistence that public relations professionals had as much responsibility to the news media as they did to their clients.”
"He was the Cary Grant of public relations." Henry Rogers, created the now famous Oscar campaign when in 1945 he turned Joan Crawford
from “box office poison” to an Oscar winner for best actress in a leading role for her performance in “Mildred Pierce”. The NY Times wrote, “Mr. Rogers, who was credited with making Rita Hayworth
a household name and with creating the sweeping publicity campaigns that have become a fixture of the annual quest for Academy Awards
, became almost as well known in Hollywood as the famous clients” who included Audrey Hepburn
, Lucille Ball
, Paul Newman
, Frank Sinatra
, Cary Grant
, Gregory Peck
, Danny Kaye
, Rex Harrison
, Gary Cooper
, Kirk Douglas
, Liz Taylor, Shirley MacLaine
, Olivia de Havilland
, Jane Wyatt
and Jane Wyman
. Later expanding into international and corporate PR, representing Fortune 500 companies and earning the prestigious appointment of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh’s, first ever publicist.
In a December 31, 1995, New York Times article about Rogers and another public relations pioneer, Edward L. Bernays, Neal Gabler supplies the following information:
. Rogers walked away from his long established relationship with John Wayne
to stand in solidarity with friends and clients who were being unjustly accused by the HUAC, like Carl Foreman
. Rogers worked with the Committee for the First Amendment
and his friend William Wyler
to create the “flight of the stars” aboard Howard Hughes
' plane bound for Washington DC and the HUAC hearings. The stars Rogers flew with included Ira Gershwin
, Gene Kelly
, Humphrey Bogart
, Lucille Ball
, Lauren Bacall
, John Huston
, Philip Dunne
and Danny Kaye
. En route, they stopped at airfields in cities across the country to share their concerns with average Americans who came to greet them. Eventually, they landed in Washington, where they sat in the audience of HUAC hearings in respectful protest for several days. On October 26, 1947, the day before the Hollywood 10 testified, the CFA broadcast a national radio program called "Hollywood Fights Back!", featuring Judy Garland
, Gene Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster
and William Holden
.
, Governor Pat Brown
, Senator Alan Cranston
, Rosalind Wiener Wyman
and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy. Rosalind’s favorite aunt, Ad Schulberg, inspired her activism. Ad Schulberg, wife of Paramount head, BP Schulberg, was the first female agent to own her own agency (representing the likes of Marlene Dietrich
) and relentless activist (a socialist involved with Leon Trotsky
who organized birth control clinics throughout the West and an “underground railroad” in London for refugee talent from Nazi-occupied Europe). Ad and BP’s son was Roz’s favorite cousin, Oscar winning screenwriter, Budd Schulberg
(On the Waterfront
, A Face in the Crowd, What Makes Sammy Run). Budd lived in Roz and Henry’s guesthouse when in Los Angeles. Another famous resident of their guesthouse was Mikhail Baryshnikov
, shortly after defecting from the Soviet Union.
Roz Rogers is believed to have influenced the beginnings of serious art collecting in Los Angeles. She championed and befriended emerging artists such as Bob Graham
, Ed Ruscha and Sam Francis
. The centerpiece of her own collection included a rare Calder
mobile. LACMA frequently organized member visits to Henry and Roz’s home on Cliffwood Avenue in Brentwood.
The first to settle in Brentwood, the Rogers’ home was the glamorous setting for the most revered soirees in Hollywood. Their friends and guests include not only the biggest stars of the time but also the players shaping the political and art scene. Close friends included Irving Wallace
, Charles Wick, Jack Valenti
, Gordon Davidson
, Sidney Harman
, Franklin Schaffner
, Lew Wasserman
, Milton Sperling
, Gregory Peck
, Norman Lear
, Carl Reiner
and Roz’s best friend, Audrey Hepburn
.
was the famed producer and agent who represented Lauren Bacall
, Humphrey Bogart
, Richard Burton
, Stanley Kubrick
and David Niven
. Sam's wife, Mildred, who was Roz' aunt, was the sister of Phil Gersh, who got his start as an agent with Sam and later founded The Gersh Agency
, a highly successful agency with major movie star, writer and director clients (NY Times obit of May 12, 2004 by Bernard Weinraub;
accessed Jul 13, 2011 11:10 pm.)
The grandson of Sam Jaffe is today’s president of Columbia Pictures
Sony, Matt Tolmach. Matt is responsible for such franchise hits as Spider-Man
.
Roz and Henry had two children, Marcia and Ron. Marcia had two children from her first marriage to Mark Goddard
and was married for 15 years to Mike Medavoy
. Ron Rogers married Lisa Specht. Ron is the founder of one of the largest PR firms in California, The Roger Group and is as vice-chair of the board of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, a board member of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, a founding board member of the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research, founding member of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, founding chair of the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and for 25 years has been on the board of the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He has also served on the boards of Coro and Outward Bound. Lisa Specht is a partner at Mannat, Phelps & Phillips whose various civic assignments have included chairing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and serving as a City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commissioner.
Roz and Henry Rogers' granddaughter is producer, Melissa Goddard
(Poison Ivy
, Big Girls Don't Cry They Get Even and What Women Want
). Their grandson is Michael Goddard who was famously featured in several high profile articles in such as The New Yorker
, NY Times, LA Times and Los Angeles Magazine) for his unique role as manager of The Grill in Beverly Hills.
and the American Council for the Arts. He was a vice-chairman of the American Film Institute and chairman of an advisory committee to the U.S. Information Agency. He was also on the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Henry Rogers wrote four books including Walking the Tightrope: The Private Confessions of a Public Relations Man (ISBN 0688035892), Rogers' Rules for Success (ISBN 031268830X), Rogers' Rules for Businesswomen: How to Start a Career and Move Up the Ladder (ISBN 0312010818) and The One-Hat Solution: Roger's Strategy for Creative Middle Management (ISBN 0312585241).
Rogers was posthumously honored with the creation of a scholarship fund at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.
Henry Rogers career
Often called the dean of entertainment publicists, Henry Rogers founded the first independent PR firm in 1935 and later founded the largest entertainment public relations agency in the world, Rogers and Cowan, with partner Warren CowanWarren Cowan
Warren Cowan was a prominent American film industry publicist. He was born in New York City and attended Townsend Harris High School, a school for boys on the educational fast track. A fellow classmate was Variety columnist Army Archerd...
. Credited with being the founder of modern day publicity the New York Times wrote; “Henry C. Rogers, transformed the seedy world of the Hollywood press agent into a plush-carpet profession. Rogers was known as the man who elevated industry ethical standards, particularly through his insistence that public relations professionals had as much responsibility to the news media as they did to their clients.”
"He was the Cary Grant of public relations." Henry Rogers, created the now famous Oscar campaign when in 1945 he turned Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
from “box office poison” to an Oscar winner for best actress in a leading role for her performance in “Mildred Pierce”. The NY Times wrote, “Mr. Rogers, who was credited with making Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
a household name and with creating the sweeping publicity campaigns that have become a fixture of the annual quest for Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, became almost as well known in Hollywood as the famous clients” who included Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Liz Taylor, Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, Jane Wyatt
Jane Wyatt
Jane Waddington Wyatt was an American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television comedy Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television series Star Trek...
and Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
. Later expanding into international and corporate PR, representing Fortune 500 companies and earning the prestigious appointment of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh’s, first ever publicist.
In a December 31, 1995, New York Times article about Rogers and another public relations pioneer, Edward L. Bernays, Neal Gabler supplies the following information:
- "Self-effacing where Bernays was self-aggrandizing, instinctive where Bernays was theoretical, Rogers made his name operating not in posh corporate board rooms but in the comparatively ignoble precincts of Hollywood. There, he and his longtime partner, Warren Cowan, commanded Rogers & Cowan, the largest and by most measures the most successful P.R. firm for the stars -- one that has served as a model for Hollywood press relations to this day. BORN IN IRVINGTON, N.J., where his parents ran a dry-goods store, Rogers attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School with the intention of earning a business degree, but the Depression aborted that plan, and he eventually wound up in Los Angeles in 1935, clipping newspapers for a P.R. woman there. Within a year, despite a severe stutter, he decided to set up his own firm with a $500 loan from his father. "I still don't understand why anyone will pay you to put his name in the paper," his father said common-sensically, "but I'll accept your word on that."
- Where Bernays applied Freud, Rogers applied show-business flimflam, spending his early years in P.R. seeding columns with mentions of entertainment marginalities. His breakthrough came in 1939 when he met a beautiful but unknown starlet named Rita Hayworth, then a contract player at Columbia Pictures who feared being dropped without some new publicity.
- Rogers went to an editor at Look magazine, told him that Hayworth spent every cent she made on clothes and produced a telegram from the Fashion Couturiers Association of America (a fictitious organization) that declared Hayworth the best-dressed off-screen actress. Taking the bait, Look provided a photographer, Rogers persuaded clothiers to provide the wardrobe, Hayworth struck a seductive pose that made the magazine's cover and her career, as well as Rogers's, was on its way.
- The timing couldn't have been better. If Bernays was a man of the '20s and '30s, trying to hold back the tide of the ascendant masses, Rogers—as tanned, dapper and distinguished as a Hollywood leading man—was very much a product of the '40s and '50s, satisfying those masses as they luxuriated in their popular culture. Though he, too, later moved into corporate consulting, his stock in trade was promoting the stars. 'Dog food and movie stars are much alike,' he once wrote, 'because they are both products in need of exposure.'
- What Rogers was really selling, however, was the image of a star—a job that turned out to be as problematic for our perception of reality as Bernays's. In his autobiography, appropriately titled 'Walking the Tightrope', Rogers tells of being solicited for a consultation with Montgomery CliftMontgomery CliftEdward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
. The actor was feeling increasingly imprisoned by public pressure to reveal more about his personal life. Over lunch at a Manhattan bistro, Clift took two sips from his martini and slid drunkenly to the floor. Rogers hoisted him home; astounded and embarrassed, he didn't take the actor as a client. - What Rogers didn't recognize was that Clift may have been a victim of the very trade Rogers plied. His was the tragedy of one who had lost his moorings, his sense of himself, in a sea of images. Writ large, it may be our tragedy, too. Rogers and Bernays helped spawn an industry that now employs about 100,000 and continues to grow."
Hollywood 10
Rogers stood firm against the House Un-American Activities CommitteeHouse Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. Rogers walked away from his long established relationship with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
to stand in solidarity with friends and clients who were being unjustly accused by the HUAC, like Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the notable film High Noon. He was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.-Biography:...
. Rogers worked with the Committee for the First Amendment
Committee for the First Amendment
The Committee for the First Amendment was an action group formed in September 1947 by actors in support of the Hollywood Ten during the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee...
and his friend William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
to create the “flight of the stars” aboard Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
' plane bound for Washington DC and the HUAC hearings. The stars Rogers flew with included Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, Philip Dunne
Philip Dunne
Philip Dunne or Dunn may refer to:*Philip Russell Rendel Dunne , MC , Unionist M.P. 1935–1937*Philip Dunne , Hollywood screenwriter and director...
and Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
. En route, they stopped at airfields in cities across the country to share their concerns with average Americans who came to greet them. Eventually, they landed in Washington, where they sat in the audience of HUAC hearings in respectful protest for several days. On October 26, 1947, the day before the Hollywood 10 testified, the CFA broadcast a national radio program called "Hollywood Fights Back!", featuring Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Gene Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
and William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
.
Roz Rogers
Henry’s wife Rosalind (Roz) Rogers (née Jaffe) founded the west coast’s first women’s political action committee, Women FOR. Roz championed the likes of Mayor Tom BradleyTom Bradley (politician)
Thomas J. "Tom" Bradley was the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, California, serving in that office from 1973 to 1993. He was the first and to date only African American mayor of Los Angeles...
, Governor Pat Brown
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
, Senator Alan Cranston
Alan Cranston
Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American journalist and Democratic Senator from California.-Education:Cranston earned his high school diploma from the old Mountain View High School, where among other things, he was a track star...
, Rosalind Wiener Wyman
Rosalind Wiener Wyman
Rosalind Wiener Wyman is a California political figure who was the youngest person ever elected to the Los Angeles City Council and the second woman to serve there. She was influential in bringing the baseball Dodgers from Brooklyn, New York, to their new home in Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles...
and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy. Rosalind’s favorite aunt, Ad Schulberg, inspired her activism. Ad Schulberg, wife of Paramount head, BP Schulberg, was the first female agent to own her own agency (representing the likes of Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
) and relentless activist (a socialist involved with Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
who organized birth control clinics throughout the West and an “underground railroad” in London for refugee talent from Nazi-occupied Europe). Ad and BP’s son was Roz’s favorite cousin, Oscar winning screenwriter, Budd Schulberg
Budd Schulberg
Budd Schulberg was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the...
(On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
, A Face in the Crowd, What Makes Sammy Run). Budd lived in Roz and Henry’s guesthouse when in Los Angeles. Another famous resident of their guesthouse was Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, shortly after defecting from the Soviet Union.
Roz Rogers is believed to have influenced the beginnings of serious art collecting in Los Angeles. She championed and befriended emerging artists such as Bob Graham
Bob Graham
Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...
, Ed Ruscha and Sam Francis
Sam Francis
Samuel Lewis Francis was an American painter and printmaker.-Early life:...
. The centerpiece of her own collection included a rare Calder
Calder
-Places:*Several rivers in Scotland and Northern England*East Calder, Mid Calder and West Calder, three villages in West Lothian, Scotland*Calder, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a town on the island of Saint Vincent...
mobile. LACMA frequently organized member visits to Henry and Roz’s home on Cliffwood Avenue in Brentwood.
The first to settle in Brentwood, the Rogers’ home was the glamorous setting for the most revered soirees in Hollywood. Their friends and guests include not only the biggest stars of the time but also the players shaping the political and art scene. Close friends included Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. Wallace was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. One critic described him "as the most successful of all the many exponents of junk fiction perhaps because he took it all so seriously, not so say...
, Charles Wick, Jack Valenti
Jack Valenti
Jack Joseph Valenti was a long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America. During his 38-year tenure in the MPAA, he created the MPAA film rating system, and he was generally regarded as one of the most influential pro-copyright lobbyists in the world...
, Gordon Davidson
Gordon Davidson
Gordon Davidson is an American stage- and film director.-External links:...
, Sidney Harman
Sidney Harman
Sidney Harman was an American businessman active in education, government, industry, and publishing. He was the Chairman Emeritus of Harman International Industries, Inc. Harman served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce in 1977 and 1978. As of August 2010 Harman was also the publisher of...
, Franklin Schaffner
Franklin Schaffner
Franklin James Schaffner was an American film director best known for such films as Planet of the Apes , Patton , Papillon , and The Boys from Brazil .-Early life:...
, Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman
Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades...
, Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
, Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
, Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
and Roz’s best friend, Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
.
Hollywood pioneers
Roz Rogers’ uncle Sam JaffeSam Jaffe
Sam Jaffe may refer to:*Sam Jaffe , American actor*Sam Jaffe , Hollywood talent agent, studio executive and film producer...
was the famed producer and agent who represented Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
, Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
and David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
. Sam's wife, Mildred, who was Roz' aunt, was the sister of Phil Gersh, who got his start as an agent with Sam and later founded The Gersh Agency
The Gersh Agency
The Gersh Agency was established in 1949 by Founder . With 125 employees, 60 agents and offices in Beverly Hills and New York, TGA maintains seven full-service departments: Talent, Feature Literary, TV Literary, Theater, Comedy, Below-the-Line, and a modeling agency.-External links:***...
, a highly successful agency with major movie star, writer and director clients (NY Times obit of May 12, 2004 by Bernard Weinraub;
The grandson of Sam Jaffe is today’s president of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
Sony, Matt Tolmach. Matt is responsible for such franchise hits as Spider-Man
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
.
Roz and Henry had two children, Marcia and Ron. Marcia had two children from her first marriage to Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard is an American film actor who has starred in a number of television programs. He portrayed Major Don West, the space adversary of Dr. Zachary Smith in the cult 1960s CBS series, Lost in Space, and Detective Sgt...
and was married for 15 years to Mike Medavoy
Mike Medavoy
Morris Mike Medavoy is an American film producer and executive, co-founder of Orion Pictures , former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists and current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures.-Early life and career:Medavoy was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 to...
. Ron Rogers married Lisa Specht. Ron is the founder of one of the largest PR firms in California, The Roger Group and is as vice-chair of the board of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, a board member of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, a founding board member of the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research, founding member of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, founding chair of the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and for 25 years has been on the board of the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He has also served on the boards of Coro and Outward Bound. Lisa Specht is a partner at Mannat, Phelps & Phillips whose various civic assignments have included chairing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and serving as a City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commissioner.
Roz and Henry Rogers' granddaughter is producer, Melissa Goddard
Melissa Goddard
Melissa Goddard is a film producer. She was executive producer of Poison Ivy, starring Drew Barrymore, and its sequels Poison Ivy II and Poison Ivy: The New Seduction. She also produced Step Kids , an ensemble family comedy, directed by Joan Micklin Silver, and starring Dan Futterman, David...
(Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillainess who is primarily an enemy of Batman. Created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff, she first appeared in Batman #181 ....
, Big Girls Don't Cry They Get Even and What Women Want
What Women Want
What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall, a Chicago...
). Their grandson is Michael Goddard who was famously featured in several high profile articles in such as The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, NY Times, LA Times and Los Angeles Magazine) for his unique role as manager of The Grill in Beverly Hills.
Giving back
Henry Rogers was chairman of the Center Theatre Group and was a board member of the Performing Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Music Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
and the American Council for the Arts. He was a vice-chairman of the American Film Institute and chairman of an advisory committee to the U.S. Information Agency. He was also on the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Henry Rogers wrote four books including Walking the Tightrope: The Private Confessions of a Public Relations Man (ISBN 0688035892), Rogers' Rules for Success (ISBN 031268830X), Rogers' Rules for Businesswomen: How to Start a Career and Move Up the Ladder (ISBN 0312010818) and The One-Hat Solution: Roger's Strategy for Creative Middle Management (ISBN 0312585241).
Rogers was posthumously honored with the creation of a scholarship fund at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.