The passing of longtime Hollywood manager Cathryn Jaymes to cancer is a shock. I met her during the reporting of “Rebels on the Backlot,” and like just about everyone else who knew her, fell in love with her sweet demeanor.
But few know the backstory and post-story of her traumatic relationship with Quentin Tarantino.
Jaymes was just 60 when she died on Wednesday, and she had been suffering from lung cancer for months, which – due to her not having health care – went inadequately treated until it had metastasized.
I hate our health-care system.
Back to the backstory: When I met Cathryn, I could hardly believe this was the person who represented the cinematic king of the N-word, Quentin Tarantino. Initially, she represented him, Roger Avary and Craig Hamann (in a recent picture with Cathryn, left). Hamann, who started as her assistant, had brought his friend Tarantino to her office (the two worked at Video Archives together, and made "My Best Friend's Birthday" together).
Jaymes was charmed. For a time she played den mother to the trio, and they were an inseparable clique.
In "Rebels," I describe her thus:
“Jaymes was a cornfed Midwesterner and the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, a petite, beautiful blond who had spent years surfing off the coast of Mexico and Central America before drifting into Hollywood. She never cared. ‘When I go,’ she once said, ‘I know I’ll have done my best to be kind to people and to be fair and honest in my business.’
“… Jaymes was single, took in housefuls of stray cats, and used words like ‘Jiminy Christmas’ and ‘goldarn’ instead of the foul language spouted by Tarantino and his friends. She found herself fighting for a client who – apart from bathing only rarely – seemed to use the word f--- in every other sentence.
(Here's the video of 'My Best Friend's Birthday,' which became 'True Romance')
“She became a true evangelist for him. Jaymes called agents, producers and executives, dropping in on them and insisting they read Tarantino’s scripts … Jaymes sent the script for ‘True Romance’ to Chris Lee, who ran feature production at Tristar. ‘He sent me a form letter back, saying this is really not for me,’ she recalled. Later, when Tarantino became the hot thing, Lee called and demanded to know why she hadn’t brought him to his attention. ‘I said, ‘You were the first person I called. You were lame enough not to take a chance ...’
“Later Mike Medavoy, then head of Columbia, pulled Jaymes into his office while Tarantino was writing ‘Pulp Fiction.’ ‘He’d stare at me, focus on me, and say, ‘Okay, Cathy, tell me this is going to be commercial.' She responded, ‘I can’t tell you that, Mike. But whatever it is, it’ll be remarkable. And you better say yes.’
“Not everyone to whom she showed the scripts agreed.
