Martin Baum (agent)
Encyclopedia
Martin "Marty" Baum was an American
talent agent
known for his work at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), including the first head of the agency's motion picture department. During his career, which spanned from the 1940s until 2010, his client list at CAA and other agencies included Bette Davis
, Bo Derek
, Richard Attenborough
, Red Buttons, Maggie Smith
and Rock Hudson
. Baum was also the President of ABC Pictures, the film division of the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC), from 1968 until 1971.
, was born on March 2, 1924. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II
while still in high school, taking part in the Allied Normandy landings in France
. He initially worked as a stage manager following the war, and decided to become a talent agent after a series of failed stage productions.
He then formed his own agency, the Martin Baum Agency, which later merged with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
In the interim, Baum became the head of ABC Pictures
in 1968, the film division of American Broadcasting Company
(ABC). As President, Baum oversaw the production of a number of films, including They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), Straw Dogs (1971) and Cabaret
(1972). His client Gig Young
won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for his role in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Young later bequethed Baum his Oscar statuette following his suicide in 1978.
Throughout his career Baum earned the reputation as a "packager", according to the Los Angeles Times
. Baum brought together various clients whom he represented, such as actors, screenwriters and film directors, and then "package" them together in a proposal to a film studio or production company
. Baum proved instrumental in packaging together three of his clients, James Poe
, actor Sidney Poitier
and director Ralph Nelson
to create the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor
for the film, becoming the first African American
actor to win the award.
In 1960, Baum partnered with Baum & Newborn Theatrical Agency to begin producing films and television in addition to his work as a publicist. He became a production executive at both Optimus Productions and Creative Management Association. Baum's credits as a producer included The Last Valley
, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
, The Wilby Conspiracy
and The Killer Elite
, all of which were released in the 1970s.
In 1976, the five founding partners of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) – Michael S. Rosenfeld
, Michael Ovitz
, Ron Meyer
, William Haber and Rowland Perkins – proposed that Martin Baum join the CAA. The five publicists had formed the CAA in 1975 after they departed the William Morris Agency
(WMA). Baum accepted the offer, completing the merger of his Martin Baum Agency with the CAA on October 11, 1976.
Baum brought an extensive client list to the CAA when he joined the agency, including Peter Sellers
and Sidney Poitier
. More importantly to CAA founders, the merger with Baum's agency added legitimacy to the CAA, which had only been founded one year prior to their overture to Baum. Baum became the first head of the CAA's motion picture division. He remained a fixture at the CAA until shortly before his death in 2010.
Baum accumulated an extensive client list throughout his career. In addition to Sidney Poitier and Gig Young, his clients included Carroll O'Connor
, Dyan Cannon
, Gene Wilder
, Julie Andrews
, Richard Harris
, Richard Attenborough
, Maggie Smith
, Harry Belafonte
, Stockard Channing
, Joanne Woodward
, John Cassavetes
, Blake Edwards
, Bette Davis
, Gena Rowlands
, Rod Steiger
, Cliff Robertson
and Red Buttons at various times throughout his career.
Martin Baum died at his home in Beverly Hills, California
on November 5, 2010 at the age of 86. He was survived by his daughter, Fern; son, Rich; three grandchildren; and his girlfriend of twelve years, Vicki Sanchez. His wife, Bernice Baum, died in 1997.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
talent agent
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
known for his work at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), including the first head of the agency's motion picture department. During his career, which spanned from the 1940s until 2010, his client list at CAA and other agencies included Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, Bo Derek
Bo Derek
Mary Cathleen Collins , better known as Bo Derek, is an American film and television actress, model, and sex symbol, known for her role as Jenny Hanley in the 1979 comedy film 10. However, Derek's film career soon faltered; her later films, including, Bolero and Ghosts Can't Do It , were poorly...
, Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
, Red Buttons, Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
and Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
. Baum was also the President of ABC Pictures, the film division of the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC), from 1968 until 1971.
Early life
Baum, a native of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, was born on March 2, 1924. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
while still in high school, taking part in the Allied Normandy landings in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He initially worked as a stage manager following the war, and decided to become a talent agent after a series of failed stage productions.
Career
Baum and Abe Newborn co-founded their own talent agency, Baum-Newborn Agency, in 1948, which proved profitable. They later sold the firm to General Artists Corp (GAC). Baum moved to Los Angeles in 1960 when he became the head of GAC's motion picture talent division. Baum then joined Ashley Famous Agency after leaving GAC.He then formed his own agency, the Martin Baum Agency, which later merged with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
In the interim, Baum became the head of ABC Pictures
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1968, the film division of American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC). As President, Baum oversaw the production of a number of films, including They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), Straw Dogs (1971) and Cabaret
Cabaret (film)
Cabaret is a 1972 musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing National Socialist Party....
(1972). His client Gig Young
Gig Young
Gig Young was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles, Young won an Academy Award for his performance as a dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.-Early life and career:Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St...
won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for his role in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Young later bequethed Baum his Oscar statuette following his suicide in 1978.
Throughout his career Baum earned the reputation as a "packager", according to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. Baum brought together various clients whom he represented, such as actors, screenwriters and film directors, and then "package" them together in a proposal to a film studio or production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
. Baum proved instrumental in packaging together three of his clients, James Poe
James Poe
James Poe was an American film and television screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the movies Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Lilies of the Field, Around the World in 80 Days and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.He also worked as a writer on the radio shows Escape and Suspense, writing the scripts...
, actor Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
and director Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...
to create the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for the film, becoming the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
actor to win the award.
In 1960, Baum partnered with Baum & Newborn Theatrical Agency to begin producing films and television in addition to his work as a publicist. He became a production executive at both Optimus Productions and Creative Management Association. Baum's credits as a producer included The Last Valley
The Last Valley
The Last Valley is a 1970 historical drama film directed by James Clavell. Set during the Thirty Years War, it stars Michael Caine as the leader of a band of mercenaries, and Omar Sharif as a teacher fleeing from the violence endemic to Germany during this period...
, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a 1974 American action film directed by Sam Peckinpah and featuring Warren Oates....
, The Wilby Conspiracy
The Wilby Conspiracy
The Wilby Conspiracy is a 1975 thriller film directed by Ralph Nelson and filmed in Kenya. It was written by Rodney Amateau, based on the 1972 novel by Peter Driscoll...
and The Killer Elite
The Killer Elite
The Killer Elite is a 1975 American action thriller film starring James Caan and Robert Duvall and directed by Sam Peckinpah.The screenplay was written by Marc Norman and Stirling Silliphant adapted from the Robert Syd Hopkins novel, Monkey in the Middle. The novel was written under Hopkins'...
, all of which were released in the 1970s.
In 1976, the five founding partners of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) – Michael S. Rosenfeld
Michael S. Rosenfeld
Michael Stuart Rosenfeld was a talent agent, movie producer, and co-founder of Creative Artists Agency.-External links:...
, Michael Ovitz
Michael Ovitz
Michael S. Ovitz is an American talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as President of the Walt Disney Company from October 1995 to January 1997....
, Ron Meyer
Ronald Meyer
Ron Meyer is an American entertainment executive and former talent agent.-Early life:Ron Meyer was born to a Jewish family whose love of film influenced him at an early age. At fifteen Ron dropped out of high school, and at the age of seventeen he joined the United States Marine Corps, which he...
, William Haber and Rowland Perkins – proposed that Martin Baum join the CAA. The five publicists had formed the CAA in 1975 after they departed the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
(WMA). Baum accepted the offer, completing the merger of his Martin Baum Agency with the CAA on October 11, 1976.
Baum brought an extensive client list to the CAA when he joined the agency, including Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
. More importantly to CAA founders, the merger with Baum's agency added legitimacy to the CAA, which had only been founded one year prior to their overture to Baum. Baum became the first head of the CAA's motion picture division. He remained a fixture at the CAA until shortly before his death in 2010.
Baum accumulated an extensive client list throughout his career. In addition to Sidney Poitier and Gig Young, his clients included Carroll O'Connor
Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...
, Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...
, Gene Wilder
Gene Wilder
Gene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...
, Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
, Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
, Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
, Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
, Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
, John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
, Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
, Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
and Red Buttons at various times throughout his career.
Martin Baum died at his home in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
on November 5, 2010 at the age of 86. He was survived by his daughter, Fern; son, Rich; three grandchildren; and his girlfriend of twelve years, Vicki Sanchez. His wife, Bernice Baum, died in 1997.