STAR MAKER
Ex-studio boss Grey dead at 59
Brad Grey, the former head of Paramount Pictures, died on Sunday evening at age 59.
His family said in a statement that the cause was cancer and that they were with him when he passed in his Holmby Hills, Calif., home.
Grey ran Paramount for 12 years before being forced out in February — collateral damage caused by a bruising power struggle that pitted the head of Paramount parent company Viacom against the Redstone family that controls it.
“I look forward to new adventures,” the well-liked studio head wrote in his farewell memo to colleagues.
Grey, who appeared to be in good health, kept his illness a secret from almost all of Hollywood.
His achievements at Paramount include overseeing the studio’s top-grossing film, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” as well as the profitable “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises.
Paramount also produced such acclaimed properties as ‘’The Big Short,” ‘’No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood” and ‘’Up in the Air” on Grey’s watch.
The Bronx-born studio head entered the entertainment business while still a student at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he became an intern to another Buffalo alum, Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein, who was more a concert promoter than an independent movie maven back then, gave a 20year-old Grey just enough experience to produce his first concert — a Buffalo appearance by Frank Sinatra.
In 1986, Grey teamed with Bernie Brillstein to form Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, a talent manager that took to packaging programming and eventually became recognized as one of Hollywood’s most successful firms.
Grey produced numerous television hits, including “The Sopranos,” “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
In 2001, he co-founded Plan B with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, but gave up his ownership stake after leaving to run Paramount in 2005.
After a promising start, Grey lost his momentum at an increasingly unstable Paramount, which has ranked last among the five major studios in box-office market share since 2012.
Recent flops like “Zoolander 2” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” racked up losses of nearly $450 million last year, setting the stage for Grey’s exit when new management cleaned house at Viacom’s operating divisions.
Grey’s family said there will be a private funeral later this week and a memorial service scheduled for the near future.