Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Ex-Paramount Pictures CEO ran firm 12 years
LOS ANGELES — Brad Grey, who ran Paramount Pictures for more than a decade after a long and successful career as a TV producer, died of cancer Sunday at his home in Holmby Hills, his family said through a spokeswoman. He was 59.
A former talent manager, Grey led the Paramount Pictures movie and television studio, known for the “Transformers” and “Star Trek” movies, for 12 years.
He was ousted from the Viacom Inc.-owned studio in February, after a long period of box office stumbles and financial losses.
Grey was known as a shrewd and tenacious figure in a notoriously cutthroat business, forging relationships with Hollywood heavyweights including Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and J.J. Abrams.
“He was at the helm of the studio for over a decade and was responsible for so many of its most beloved films,” said studio chief Jim Gianopulos, who replaced Grey as chairman and CEO in March, in a statement. “I was proud to call Brad a friend, and one I greatly admired.”
Born in the Bronx, the youngest child of a New York garment industry salesman, Grey sold belt buckles made in his grandfather’s factory when he was in high school. While in college, he got his foot in the door working as a gofer for a concert promoter named Harvey Weinstein, who would later go on to cofound Miramax Film Corp.
Before joining Paramount, Grey was a partner at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, where he represented stars such as Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler and produced such TV shows as HBO’s “The Sopranos” and “Real Time With Bill Maher.”
His success in the television business catapulted him into the upper echelons of Hollywood power. He was hired by former Viacom CEO Tom Freston to run Paramount Pictures in 2005, replacing Sherry Lansing. Though he was considered a novice at navigating the corporate culture of a major Hollywood studio, Viacom hoped Grey would bring a fresh perspective to the movie business.
Grey had some key successes early in his tenure at Paramount. He led the acquisition of DreamWorks SKG, the studio created by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. He is also credited with securing a deal to release movies from Marvel Studios. Movies from DreamWorks Animation and Marvel helped round out Paramount’s lineup with reliable blockbusters.
But those deals did not last. Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009 and DreamWorks Animation films moved to rival 20th Century Fox, after Spielberg and Geffen has already left Paramount after Geffen, the music mogul, clashed with Grey.
Grey was also caught in the middle of a tumultuous battle for control last year between Viacom’s thenCEO Philippe Dauman and controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone. Dauman had proposed selling 49 percent of the studio to pay down debt and boost Viacom’s flagging stock. Redstone, who controls a $40 billion media empire that encompasses Viacom and CBS Corp., adamantly opposed the plan.
Dauman was ejected from Viacom last year.
As the corporate drama swirled, Grey faced pressure to turn around the studio, which had been hobbled by a thin slate of movies and flops including “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and “Zoolander 2.” The studio lost $445 million in fiscal 2016 because of a string of box-office misfires.