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Ed Limato: Hollywood Agent Gave Legendary Oscar Parties

Roger Friedman
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Ed Limato: Hollywood Agent Gave Legendary Oscar Parties

Ed Limato, 73, one of the most legendary Hollywood talent agents ever, died on Saturday after a long illness. Ed, a bon vivant who lived in splendor in a Beverly Hills mansion with a massive, rolling lawn, was one of a kind.

It was in March 2001 that Ed Limato gave what was probably the best of his famous Oscar parties. I attended as a guest of the great Caroline Graham. We were working on a Talk magazine Oscar issue. Remember Talk magazine?

Anyway, I chronicled the night in two columns. They can be found here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1971,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1967,00.html

This is what I remember: in the large party tent set up on Ed’s lawn, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts came in, talked to a small group of people including me and Diana Ross, and told he was definitely running for president in 2004. I reported this in my Fox411 column, but it was Fox News, and no one took it seriously.

I also remember Diana Ross with all her kids, dancing together joyously. And David Selby, the terrific actor, telling me that Ed Limato had been his one and only agent through his whole career. Despite Limato adding Mel Gibson (then sane), Denzel Washington, Michelle Pfeiffer and other movie stars over the years, he’d remained loyal to Selby. And vice versa.

In succeeding years, the Limato party was still a big deal, but his clients were winding down. For the 2001 Talk Oscar issue, I sent writer Ross Johnson (now with PMK-BNC) to interview Ed about his Oscar party.

Ross wrote: “Limato began having friends over to his home for a pre-Oscar party in the early 1990s. It was a small group including Gere, the late Herb Ritts, and top actors who had jetted in from all over the world for Oscar weekend. The cost of the party back then was about $10,000. (Limato has always paid for the party out of his own pocket.)
“But when agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar died in December of 1993, the balance of power in Oscar party politics changed. Lazar had hosted an incredibly popular post-Oscar party for almost three decades, but now the torch was passed to Limato and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.
It’s hard to call a party for 400 ambitious showbiz types as “private,” and certainly the tab for Limato’s bash has risen (it now costs him $150,000). But Limato refuses to budge on one very appreciated attribute of his affair: He is dedicated to making sure his guests have fun.
“The secret of having a good party is a good mix of guests,” said Limato. “You need rich people and not so rich people, beautiful people and homely people, successful types and not so successful, and people who like to drink a little too much and people who don’t.”
Certainly, the history of Limato’s John Wolf-designed home is conducive to frivolity. It was built in 1936 as a honeymoon retreat for Dick Powell and Joan Blondell. George Raft and Betty Grable nested here during their mating days. Diana Dors, a later owner, was once tossed into the swimming pool amid a bash that got out of control.
In contrast to today’s button-downed, vertically-integrated, cross-promoted Los Angeles, the concept of things getting a little out of control behind closed doors does not frighten Limato.
Limato is asked how he would have handled one of the most notorious moments in recent Hollywood social history. Back in 1998, Arnold Rifkin was the president of the William Morris Agency, and tried to steal some of Limato’s thunder by hosting a pre-Oscar party at his home.
There was a faux paus. During the party, Michael De Luca, the then-president of New Line Films, received what is known as an indecent oral tribute [update: he was pleasured quite publicly] from a sister of a William Morris agent. The randy act was witnessed by some party goers. When host Rifkin was informed, he had a security guard march De Luca and his date from the premises.
Rifkin’s reign at William Morris, and as an agent, ended shortly thereafter. (De Luca was subsequently bounced out of New Line, but was then hired to a top position at DreamWorks. He’s since gone on to be a much more conservative producer.) According to Limato, one can’t host a Hollywood bash without being a little, er, flexible.
Limato says that, if he was presented with a similar situation as the one presented Rifkin, “I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. You can’t have a party as successful as my parties and say ‘You can’t do this. You can’t do that.'”
Limato knows a thing or two about creative types and their ways. “I would have never thrown De Luca out of my house,” says Limato.
“I would have just said, ‘Why don’t you go upstairs and use my bedroom?”
Of such decisions Oscar legends are made.

PS Despite the glowing report, neither Ross nor I was invited to the 2002 party. Ed decided he didn’t like the press attention we’d given him.

Box Office Betting: Flashback–We Broke the Story on December 1, 2009

Roger Friedman
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1
Box Office Betting: Flashback–We Broke the Story on December 1, 2009

http://www.showbiz411.com/2009/12/01/20091201box-office-betting-cantor-index

Before December 1, 2009, no one knew that Cantor Fitzgerald was planning to launch box office betting.

This column broke the story after Howard Lutnick, the head of CF, told me about it in passing. The Drudge Report, our favorite website, picked it up and linked to us.

Since then, all hell has broken loose. Congress is now involved. There’s a bill to prevent box office betting winding its way around Capitol Hill.

Now comes word that Cantor Fitzgerald’s benign non pro site, Hollywood Stock Exchange, has laid off most of its staff. No doubt the expense of defending this very poorly thought out idea has cost Cantor too much money. What a shame.

Cantor suffered an unimaginable tragic blow when its offices were part of the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001. Lutnick’s own brother died in the horror. Since then, CF has had to rebuild.

Betting on the box office was not the way to go. The chances for potential bad faith activity were just too high. I said it from the beginning on December 1st. I said to it Howard Lutnick. Fantasy betting, yes. But real betting: no. It’s not going to happen.

By the way, for what it’s worth, trading on both Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise is sharply down this week.

Ben Walker Chooses Broadway Over X Men: Final Stand

Roger Friedman
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21
Ben Walker Chooses Broadway Over X Men: Final Stand

With the uncertainty surrounding 20th Century Fox’s casting choices for “X Men First Class,” Benjamin Walker has ankled the project.

Walker is negotiating a deal instead to reprise his starring role on Broadway in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.” The emo-pop musical was a smash hit off Broadway with Walker last season.

The whole “X Men”-“Andrew Jackson” seesaw has been going on for some time. Walker had a signed deal to play Beast in “First Class.” But lately, with the success of “Twilight,” studio execs at Fox have  been obsessed with making the “X Men” X boys.

Suddenly, Fox is nervous because they’ve had some failures at the box office. “Knight and Day,” “The A Team,” and “Marmaduke” almost reverses their success with “Avatar.” Getting “X Men: First Class” right is suddenly more important than ever, I am told.

So far, still, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender remain with the film. They’re the “senior” cast, which is just hilarious. Look for a lot of different Taylor Lautners to assume the other roles. Fox, I’m told, even checked Lautner’s availability.

For Walker and the producers of “Andrew Jackson” this is all good news. Walker will undoubtedly get a Tony nomination next spring, and “Andrew Jackson” has the potential to become a “American Idiot” type hit.

Mel Gibson: Stick a Fork in Him, He’s Done

Roger Friedman
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8
Mel Gibson: Stick a Fork in Him, He’s Done

It’s a good thing Summit Entertainment is making so much money on the “Twilight” series.

They also have in their possession “The Beaver,” starring Mel Gibson, and directed by Jodie Foster.

After what’s happened now, “The Beaver” may not see the light of the day for a long, long time.

Gibson–already branded an anti-Semite and racist, as well as anti conventional Catholicism and the Pope–has now really finished himself off.

According to several reports, from TMZ to Radar Online, Gibson is heard on tape using the “N word” to his ex girlfriend and babymama, Oksana Grigorieva.

Not only does Gibson use the “N Word,” he’s also singularly abusive to Grigorieva, who recently bore him a child. This is the woman for whom he left his wife, Robyn, by the way.

The reports say Gibson told Oskana: “You’re an embarrassment to me.” He also says: “You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault.”

Mel tells Oksana: “How dare you act like such a bitch when I have been so f**king nice.”  He adds:  “I am going to come and burn the f**king house down… but you will blow me first.”

OK, so that’s it. There’s more, but I’m sure one of the reliable tabloid websites will be broadcasting the whole fiasco soon. If it’s true–and it sure seems like it–Gibson is completely done in Hollywood. No amount of feigning apologies to Diane Sawyer can help him. Rehab is out of the question.

There’s simply no excuse for this behavior. But there was no excuse for him calling a female police officer, “Sugar tits,” or making his anti-Semitic observations to a Jewish cop in Malibu. Nor was there any rationale for his inappropriate behavior while promoting “Edge of Darkness” this past January.

Mel will be left to running his Holy Family Church in Malibu/Agoura Hills for Catholics who don’t recognize the pope and Holocaust deniers. If only the Academy could recall his Oscars for “Braveheart,” and offer them to Ron Howard for the real Best Picture of 1995, “Apollo 13.”

As for “The Beaver,” Gibson cannot possibly do any press now. And Foster would be left to answer embarrassing questions. That leaves the handpuppet beaver that Gibson’s character talks to in the movie. He will be available for Glenn Beck, if asked.

PS I will never forget Mel and Oksana showing up at the Hollywood Reporter pre-Oscar party this year. Mel  looked like he’d slept in his clothes; his eyes were barely in focus.

Mel was there to receive some cockamamie award from Mexico for shooting there, even though the people of the village where he was planning to make a movie didn’t want him there.

Kelsey Chooses Broadway; Andrew Garfield is Spider Man; No Overture Made

Roger Friedman
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1
Kelsey Chooses Broadway; Andrew Garfield is Spider Man; No Overture Made

Kelsey Grammer is getting a divorce from third wife, Camille. They have two children.

At first this one is a head-scratcher since Kelsey and Camille looked happy as clams the night of the Tony Awards.

But here’s the thing: Camille is now part of the scripted reality show, “The Real (Albeit Cosmetically Enhanced) Housewives of Beverly Hills.” It shoots in California, three thousand miles from Broadway. Grammer, who’s done LA and never liked it much, is a Tony nominee in the Tony award winning Best Revival Musical “La Cage Aux Folles.” He ain’t leaving New York anytime soon.

Is it just geography that’s splitting this couple? Answer: who knows? But when “Housewives” eventually airs, we may learn a lot more. The camera crews have been following the couple for weeks. Even yours truly had to sign a release on Tony night after I spoke to Kelsey about the Broadway show…

…Everyone’s fighting over whose scoop it is/was that Andrew Garfield has been cast in the new “Spider Man” movie. I don’t care. All I know is, Garfield is a spectacular choice. So good in “Boy A” and “Dr. Parnassus,” and even “Lions for Lambs,” Garfield is hot hot hot right now. I predicted after “Boy A” that he would blast off, and it’s happening. Well played…

…I told you weeks ago that Overture Films was over. Now Chris McGurk and Danny Rossett are out, and the place is cooked. This is not to be smirked at. Chris and Danny tried hard, and put out some good films like “The Visitor” and “Capitalism: A Love Story.” They are wished well in their next endeavors. No word yet on what happens to Anchor Bay, a division of Overture. They have “Solitary Man,” in release with Michael Douglas. It’s a terrific little film, with Douglas deserving an Oscar nomination. If it got lost in the abyss now, it would be a shame…

…It does feel like I just saw Elliot Kastner in Elaine‘s recently. Last night the eatery’s owner Elaine Kaufman was one of many who mourned a great friend and movie producer. Kastner died on Wednesday at age 80. He made “The Missouri Breaks,” “Harper,” “Equus,” and three films based on Raymond Chandler mystery novels: “The Long Goodbye,” a gem starring Elliot Gould; “Farewell My Lovely” and “The Big Sleep.” A fixture in Hollywood, popular and talented, he will be sorely missed….

Tom Cruise Film Falls to Number 5: Bad Signs Ahead

Roger Friedman
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4
Tom Cruise Film Falls to Number 5: Bad Signs Ahead

The Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz film, “Knight and Day,” enters its second weekend at the box office with trouble.

That’s T for Tom trouble. “Knight and Day” has fallen now to fifth place at the box office after 8 days in release. On Wednesday night it dropped past “The Karate Kid,” which been in release longer than “K&D.”

The box office take is now about $33.5 million.

The only good news for “K&D” is that this weekend, only two new films open: “Love Ranch.” which is in limited release, and “The Last Airbender,” which has some of the worst reviews ever. So Cruise and Cameron may be holding steady at number 5 through the holiday.

But it’s likely this will be the last week in the top 10 for “Knight and Day.” Next Friday comes “Despicable Me” and “Predators.”

Meantime, Fox has pushed the UK release of “K&D” from next Friday to August 14th. I guess the idea is that by then, the “K&D” bad press roll will be done, and the stars will get a fresh start in Britain. It’s not a bad idea.

Meantime, “K&D” still has not opened in Spain, despite all the millions spent to have an international premiere in Seville instead of any premiere in the U.S. The excuse may be that the country was preocupado with the World Cup. But still, after making such a scene, and then waiting…It does seem like “K&D” may be jinxed.

The Beatles’ Apple Records: Making a Comeback

Roger Friedman
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14
The Beatles’ Apple Records: Making a Comeback

The word around Capitol Records is that they’re about to launch a re-master re-release program for the Beatles’ Apple Records catalog.

Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end. We were wrong.

The last time someone cleaned up and re-released the Apple catalog was back in 1991. Since then, most of the releases have drifted out of print.

Apple Records was not a great success, but it had its shining moments. The catalog consists of James Taylor’s first album ever, plus albums by Badfinger, Billy Preston, R&B great Doris Troy, Mary Hopkin (pictured), and Jackie Lomax.

There are also early solo albums by Ringo Starr and George Harrison that have fallen by the wayside.

Apple’s shiniest moment, for my money, is Badfinger’s “Straight Up” album, produced by Harrison and Todd Rundgren. It’s just perfection–and that’s the name of one of the songs. It also contains the classic hits “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue.” It’s so good, it should be framed.

I will be particularly interested in Doris Troy‘s self titled album. Troy’s biggest hit for Atlantic in the 60s was “Just One Look.” Later she sang, quite beautifully, on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

I am also very curious about Billy Preston‘s “Encouraging Words.” It features Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Keith Richards and Doris Troy. The same line up is on his “That’s The Way God Planned It.”

And of course, the most enduring of the Apple hits, Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days,” was produced by Paul McCartney, who also wrote Badfinger’s first hit, “Come and Get It.”

Let’s hope the Apple re-release is as clever and classy as the Beatles’ box set boon of last year.

Sting, Trudie Styler: 19th Century Love Letters

Roger Friedman
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3
Sting, Trudie Styler: 19th Century Love Letters

Sting is a major rock star and Trudie Styler, his wife, is a political activist and movie producer with an acting background. So you don’t expect them to go all 19th century, but that’s what they did last night at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In the Allen Room, for a charity called the Culture Project and Music Unites, they performed their own version of an 1837 “Love Letters.”

With a background of the sun setting over Fifth Avenue almost on cue, Sting and Trudie performed their two hander, “Twin Spirits,” that’s based on the letters back and forth between composer Robert Schumann and his decade-younger pianist wife Clara Wieck. This time they had help from actor David Straithairn, who narrated, and Joshua Bell on violin, and singers Nathan Gunn and Camille Zamora.

The audience consisted of no less than Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Denise Rich, actor Richard Kind, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, movie producer Bonnie Timmerman, and classical pianist Steven Masi, and loads of well heeled patrons who donated to a fund that keeps music education in schools. They got their money’s worth, too: the piece, conceived by John Caird, is a keeper. It’s also well-tailored for the couple.

Sting has done plenty of acting in movies, plays and videos. So no one is taken aback by his excellent reading of the slightly huffy Schumann. (They share the trait of being prolific, and blend a bit.) Not so well known is that Styler began her career at the Royal Shakespeare Company with Caird in 1981.

As Clara, she is luminous and captivating. I think a lot of people are genuinely surprised. But as she and Sting reprise this performance for various charities, Styler gets better and better. Last night, with the sun melting and disappearing behind her, Styler–more beautiful and better dressed than Clara Schumann could have hoped for–captured lightning in a bottle.

Later, some patrons repaired to the couple’s Central Park West duplex aerie, where a hot jazz combo played some re-made pop songs. When they launched into The Police‘s “Walking on the Moon.” Sting said, “I know that song,” and sang along. Fletcher talked about his new movie, which Timmerman will produce. Book publisher Roger Cooper, of Vanguard Press, was excited about coaxing Styler into writing a book. Denise Rich said she did not have money with Ken Starr, after all. (We’ll see.) A nice, young, wealthy couple from Los Angeles told me about how they fly all over the country to see Sting perform in different locales.

And the kids: Mickey Sumner, Sting and Trudie’s eldest actress daughter (not counting Kate, Sting’s eldest daughter from a previous marriage), talked about just returning from the Sundance Film Lab, where she starred in an experimental film. And now, while Sting heads back on the road, Styler is off to London to see 18 year old daughter Coco, a budding pop star, perform. Son Jake is in Africa shooting a documentary. They will all reunite July 13 and 14 when Sting brings his “Symphonicities” tour to the Metropolitan Opera House.

And what are you doing this week?

PS Thanks to pianist Jeremy Denk, I think I’ve figured out where the music from the annoying Cymbalta commercials comes from. Check it out: the music in the commercial sounds like it may have been derived from Robert Schumann. In the video below, listen to Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Opus. It’s not plagiarism or sampling in this case. Just a clever composer who interpolated a piece of classical music. It explains a lot. And Schumann was kind of a depressive. He died at age 46.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDpwNHifzkQ&feature=related

DEA “Inspected” Office of Michael Jackson’s Dr. Klein Last Week: Exclusive

Roger Friedman
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22
DEA “Inspected” Office of Michael Jackson’s Dr. Klein Last Week: Exclusive

The Drug Enforcement Agency “inspected” Dr. Arnold Klein‘s Beverly Hills office last Tuesday.

Sarah Pullen, spokesperson for the agency, confirmed this for me today.

According to Pullen, investigators didn’t “raid” Klein’s office. But they conducted a rather stringent regulatory examination. It’s called an Adminstrative Inspection Warrant. This meant that they went through all his logs, and did extensive checking to make sure  what drugs are being administered to which patients, and if it’s all being done properly.

Here’s the weird thing: the warrant was not related to Michael Jackson, per se. But Klein, according to sources, has been on the DEA radar because of Michael Jackson for some time.

According to insiders, Klein was so freaked out by the inspection that he left and has not returned to his office since then.

Klein has long been described as Jackson’s Dr. Feelgood. I first reported exclusively last June 2009, right after Jackson died, that Klein had turned in a bill to AEG Live for $48,000 covering Jackson’s invoices with him from March 23-June 25, 2009.

A few months later, Klein sued the Jackson estate for that amount and included a detailed bill. Much of his work was giving Jackson Demerol shots. Witnesses said that Jackson often slept in Klein’s office in the afternoons.

Michael Douglas: The Real Reason His Ex His Suing for “Wall Street 2” Money

Roger Friedman
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5
Michael Douglas: The Real Reason His Ex His Suing for “Wall Street 2” Money

The Ken Starr saga continues:

Everyone and anyone who’s read press reports about Michael Douglas‘s ex wife Diandra deMorrell Douglas Klein–and knows her situation–is wondering what the heck is going on. Diandra Douglas should be loaded.

In fact, this column has learned that her Diandra deMorrell Douglas Foundation–with assets of about $1.5 million–was possibly looted by now imprisoned money manager Ken Starr.

It was Starr who maintained Douglas’s foundation. Her sudden need for money from ex husband Michael Douglas–ten years after their divorce–suggests that Diandra is one of Starr’s many celebrity victims.

ADiandra, divorced from Michael for a decade, is now suing him to get money from “Wall Street 2.” She thinks she’s entitled to the money per her divorce agreement–that it’s a spin off from “Wall Street” and part of her original settlement. It’s ironic since “Wall Street” is all about greed. So is Ken Starr.

But Diandra is in trouble. According to public records obtained by this column, she has just over $600,000 in mechanics liens placed against her for work done on her posh East 65th St. townhouse. The biggest lien is held by a contracting firm for $465,428. It was filed last November 2009.

Diandra apparently has no concern over what such a lawsuit might do to her son, Cameron, currently in prison and trying to rebuild his life. At 31, he told the court that the last ten months in prison have been the first sober days of his life. It cannot have been easy to see his mother back on the front page of the New York tabloids. I’m sure it was a big hit in jail.

Diandra Douglas has a lot of real estate holdings, and, potentially, assets. Currently, the home she got in the inheritance– a massive estate in tony Montecito, California–is on the market for $29 million.

Her divorce settlement from Douglas–$45 million–was so large that Diandra, according to sources, didn’t want to remarry lest she lose anything. “She didn’t want to lose the Douglas name, that’s for sure,” says a source. In reality, Diandra Douglas is really now Diandra Klein. But I’m skipping ahead.

Indeed, Diandra–who married at age 20 and had Cameron at 21–has spent her post-Michael Douglas years on a tear. She almost married another very wealthy man named Zach Bacon, whose family sizzles with money, power and real estate in New York. They didn’t marry but did order up twin boys from a surrogate. Diandra sued over custody issues, and a contentious fight ensued. The boys live with Bacon, and Douglas visits them. In 2005, according to reports, she bought a townhouse on the Upper East Side for over $5 million. She recently sold it, reports say, for roughly $9 million.

Next stop was a marriage to guitar maker Michael Klein. At the time they met he was married to Roxanne Klein, Oprah Winfrey‘s raw food guru. Diandra and Klein married. Then she adopted a little girl from Kazakhstan with the help of her cousin-in-law Libet Johnson, of the Johnson & Johnson fortune. She used now imprisoned scam baby seller Orson Mozes–who stole millions from prospective adoptive parents and made false claims about having ready to go babies–to get the child.

Klein, perhaps distressed from the soap opera, went back to Roxanne. In between he and Diandra bought another townhouse, also on the Upper East Side, on the most prime block, for $15 million, where she continues to live to this day. It’s the same location where Cameron Douglas first went under house arrest last year–until authorities discovered that his girlfriend was smuggling heroin to him inside toothbrushes. Diandra, friends say, had no idea what was going on with Cameron under her own roof, where often three small children were also living.

If Douglas been significantly looted by Starr it puts her in good company–with Neil Simon, Uma Thurman, Carly Simon, former ICM chairman Jim Wiatt, and a host of other big names.

(Pictured: Michael and Diandra, in happier times.)

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