Longtime Hollywood publicist Dick Guttman has died. He was 93.
The publicity executive represented clients including Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood, Audrey Hepburn and Paul Newman. He passed Sept. 19 in Los Altos, Calif. An immediate cause of death was not given.
Born in St. Louis, Guttman moved to Los Angeles at an early age and attended Fairfax High and UCLA. He rode L.A. streetcars to wait by the sound stage doors of popular radio dramas, collecting used scripts and autographs. At Fairfax High, he ran track and decided to pursue journalism, covering high school sports for the Los Angeles Examiner.
After graduating from UCLA, he launched his career as a unit publicist in Europe, working on such films as “Paris Holiday” and “The Key” and beginning to collect the tales that would color his conversations. While in Paris as the unit publicist on Billy Wilder’s “Love in the Afternoon,” he met his wife Gisela. They married in 1956.
Moving back to Los Angeles, he returned to Rogers & Cowan for more than a decade, representing actors including Paul Newman, Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Tony Curtis, Milton Berle, Greer Garson, Simone Signoret, Carroll Baker, Candice Bergen, Peter Ustinov, Tony Randall, Dick Powell, Natalie Wood, William Holden, James Mason and Rex Harrison. He often said he was simply in the right place at the right time, becoming a celebrity publicist when Hollywood studios stopped contracting stars and “press agents” became pivotal to successful careers.
In 1971, he partnered with publicist Jerry Pam, and over two decades Guttman & Pam became one of the preeminent Hollywood publicity agencies, establishing a reputation for highly personalized and results-oriented, innovative promotion.
In the early 1990s, Guttman formed his own agency, Guttman Associates, and continued representing numerous films, TV shows and individual talents from his Beverly Hills office for more than 35 years.
Between his time at Rogers & Cowan and at his own firms, Guttman & Pam and Guttman Associates, Guttman represented companies like Sanrio, Lucasfilm and its special effects company Industrial Light & Magic as well as overseeing the publicity campaigns for Best Picture Oscar-winning films such as “Shakespeare in Love,” “The King’s Speech,” “Unforgiven,” and “The Artist.”
Asked once if he had counted how many clients he represented over the decades, he said, “I’ve done the rough math, and my guess is probably 700 clients, and about 200 legends. I have been very blessed.”
In addition to his publicity career, Guttman was a screenwriter with seven films to his credit, including 1963’s “Back Door to Hell” with Jack Nicholson and TV movies, including collaborations with director Joseph Sargent on “Passion Flower” and “Ivory Hunters.”
Guttman shared more than 1,000 stories from his decades in the industry in his 2015 autobiography, “Starflacker.” Reviewers noted the expansive, deeply personal look into the mechanics of film public relations and celebrity culture holds decades of cherished insights, amusements and adventures, and a look at why beloved stardoms of the past have slipped away in the age of trending.
Guttman and his wife lived for more than 50 years in Malibu, even after losing their home to a wildfire in 1993. Last year, just after the Palisades Fire burned through much of the community, he and Gisela moved to Los Altos to be close to family.
He is survived by Gisela, his wife of 70 years, his daughters Monika Guttman Robertson and Danielle Guttman Klein, granddaughters Alyssa Brucculeri and Claire Robertson, great granddaughter Aria Brucculeri, and sister Joan Ostrow. Guttman Associates continues to represent Hollywood talent with his long-time colleagues Susan Madore and Rona Menashe at the helm.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Dick Guttman Memorial Fund at the Entertainment Industries Foundation, which supports members of the creative community through a variety of philanthropic efforts, including wildfire relief. Guttman spent many years working with EIF to build recognition and reach.
