The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
Hitched, Hatched, Hired
Inside the industry’s celebrations and news
Weddings Morgan Di Stefano,
vp publicity for Disney Branded Television, married Eliot Sakhartov, an account director at Microsoft, on Jan. 20 at Castle Green in Pasadena.
Births
Janet Baum, vp of broadcast at iProspect, and husband Matt Michalowski, U.S. managing director at Tommy, welcomed Eleanor Claire Michalowski on Feb. 8 at Cedars-Sinai.
Congrats
Ravi Ahuja was named president and COO of Sony Pictures Entertainment on March 6.
Greg Siegel and Ryan Polun joined the digital media department at CAA as agents March 10.
Former Amblin Partners president Jeb Brody was tapped president of Imagine Features on March 5.
Kathy Goodman was appointed CEO of Funny or Die, effective March 18.
Braden Currier was upped to partner within WME’s unscripted TV department March 7.
Interscope Capitol Labels Group promoted Gary Kelly to chief revenue officer and G.M. and Jason
Kawejsza to executive vp and head of business and legal affairs March 8.
Jed Benedict was tapped to run Studiocanal’s new genre label March 8.
Talent agent Fatmata Kamara joined Independent Artist Group on March 8.
Deaths Steve Lawrence,
the Grammy- and Emmy-winning crooner and husband of late singer Eydie Gormé who delighted audiences for decades, died March 7 in Los Angeles of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 88.
Akira Toriyama, the Japanese manga artist who created the Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump series, died March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68.
Coleman Hough, who wrote Steven Soderbergh’s Full Frontal and Bubble, died Feb. 24 in Englewood, New Jersey after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 62.
Jean Allison, the familiar character actress who appeared on dozens of TV shows, died Feb. 28 in Rancho Palos Verdes. She was 94.
Ahmed El-Shenawi, whose character announces a “snake surprise” in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, died Feb. 1 in London. He was 75.