Freddie Fields, Hollywood bigwig
LOS ANGELES - Freddie Fields, the Hollywood agent, producer and studio executive who helped make stars of Mel Gibson, Richard Gere and others with films such as "The Year of Living Dangerously," "American Gigolo" and "Glory," has died. He was 84.
LOS ANGELES - Freddie Fields, the Hollywood agent, producer and studio executive who helped make stars of Mel Gibson, Richard Gere and others with films such as "The Year of Living Dangerously," "American Gigolo" and "Glory," has died. He was 84.
Fields died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Beverly Hills home, said publicist Warren Cowan, a longtime friend.
During a long, colorful career as one of Hollywood's biggest behind-the-scenes players, Fields founded the international talent agency Creative Management Associates and served as president of two major film studios, MGM and United Artists.
He produced such films as "Glory," which won Denzel Washington his first Oscar; "Crimes of the Heart," starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek, and "American Gigolo," which helped turn Gere into a box-office star.
He also produced "Looking For Mr. Goodbar," starring Keaton and Gere, and "Fever Pitch," with Ryan O'Neal. He was executive producer and a partner in television's nationally syndicated "The Montel Williams Show." *