Skip Brittenham, the legendary entertainment lawyer for Hollywood heavyweights like Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy, died Thursday, TheWrap has learned. He was 83.
“Everyone in our industry knew of Skip’s legal prowess,” the late attorney’s Ziffren Brittenham firm said in announcing the news.
The Hollywood legal power broker was the founding parter of Ziffren Brittenham LLP with Ken Ziffren in 1978. The aggregate dollar amount of his deals averaged over $1 billion annually for the past decade, according to his company bio. The bulk of his practice involved transactional law, including the acquisition and sale of media companies, financing film slates and other media projects.
Brittenham served on the board of numerous corporations, including Pixar, Lowes Cineplex and DreamWorks Animation. He was instrumental in the launch of Pixar, Illumination Entertainment and Skydance Media and the split of DreamWorks SKG.
In addition to Ford and Murphy, the lawyer represented actors Bruce Willis, Michael Keaton and Drew Carey; directors Ridley Scott, Shawn Levy and Andrew Stanton; and producers Joe Roth and Nina Jacobson. His executive roster included Dana Walden, Kevin Feige, John Lasseter, Toby Emmerich, Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman.
He was honored with the Spirit of Liberty Award from People for the American Way in 2007, and he and his wife were honored with the Alliance for Children’s Rights at the National Champions Awards.
Brittenham also served on the boards of numerable charitable organizations, including Conservation International (“C.I.”), one of the world’s foremost environmental organizations, raising more than $1.5 billion for the organization over the last decade.
The statement from his firm gave color to who Brittenham was outside of his professional pursuits.
“Some may not have known of his quiet generosity, his ability to find humor and opportunity in the darkest moments, and his unwavering belief that media and the entertainment industry must serve people, not the other way around,” the statement read. “He had an extraordinary gift for seeing opportunity where others saw only obstacles, and for treating everyone (from the firm’s first employees to its biggest clients) with respect and genuine interest.”
And Brittenham’s own colleagues weren’t the only ones sharing fond praise for the late attorney on Thursday. In a statement to TheWrap, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman described him as a “dear friend.”
“Singular is an overused word: It should be reserved for the exceedingly rare likes of Skip Brittenham,” Rothman said. “A dear friend and valued advisor to me for my entire career, Skip was the wisest man I knew and among the very best. I’m sure he is fishing a big river in heaven as we mourn the passing of a true original.”
Brittenham is survived by his wife actress and screenwriter Heather Thomas and three daughters Kristina, Shauna and India. He is also survived by his brother Bud, two sons-in-law Jesse Sisgold and Avi Reiter, and four grandchildren.
