The Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman

If Hollywood was Mount Olympus, says movie industry lobbyist Jack Valenti in Barry Avrich's the Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman "then Lew Wasserman was Zeus." Over sixty years as power broker at MCA and head of Universal Studios, Wasserman rewrote the behind the scenes Hollywood rulebook. In this "highly entertaining" (NY Post) documentary, Avrich succeeds in doing the impossible - piercing the shroud of silence surrounding a man who kept no notes, gave no interviews, and remains as feared in death as he was in life. Lew Wasserman mastered the art of the deal with a ruthlessness and style all his own. "Dress British, think Yiddish," the invariably power-suited Wasserman advised his underlings. It was that mixture of cold-blooded imperialism and matzo-mafia chutzpah that brought Wasserman from Cleveland's red-light rackets to Hollywood, and eventually extended his career-making and destroying reach from Sunset Boulevard to Pennsylvania Avenue. Out of the ashes of the studio system, Wasserman's MCA became the first-ever entertainment conglomerate, gobbling up artists and contracts, pioneering the modern blockbuster, and forging sweetheart deals with union bosses, gangsters and US Presidents alike. Featuring frank, juicy interviews with everyone from Robert Evans to Michael Ovitz to former President Jimmy Carter ("I don't know if intimidation is the right word, but I took his calls"), the Last Mogul reveals show business' ultimate kingmaker in "sprightly, fast moving style" (New York Times) through the voices of those who knew him and feared him the most.