Top Hollywood executive Brad Grey, aged 59

Brad Grey, who served as the chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures for 12 years, has died of cancer at the age of 59.

Before leaving Paramount in February, Grey oversaw such franchises as Star Trek, Transformers and Mission: Impossible.

He also oversaw several Martin Scorsese films, including The Wolf Of Wall Street, Shutter Island and Hugo, and produced The Departed.

He led the acquisition of DreamWorks SKG, and shepherded the distribution agreement with Marvel, releasing Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America before the Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Studios in 2009.

Recently, however, the studio had struggled with underwhelming box office receipts for films including Zoolander 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows, and counted losses of nearly $450 million (£349m) last year, leading to his exit in February.

Born in New York in 1957, Grey started out in the entertainment business as an assistant to Harvey Weinstein, who was then a concert promoter.

His first client was comedian Bob Saget, and his partnership with comics, including the late Garry Shandling, helped make his name in the business.

Grey is survived by his wife, Cassandra Grey, their son Jules, three children from a previous marriage, Sam, Max and Emily, his mother Barbara Schumsky, his brother, Michael Grey, and his sister Robin Grey.

Brad Grey.