Jay Kanter, famous film maker and adviser to Hollywood luminaries including Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe, has died. He was 97.
Kanter died of natural creates Aug. 6 at his house in Beverly Hills, his brother Adam Kanter confirmed.
The longtime theater professional began his career in the mailroom at MCA, working his way up to associate to , Lew Wasserman , — who represented Bette Davis and Ronald Reagan, and afterward chaired MCA — and finally, young agent.
In 1948, Kanter, therefore 22, was sent to fetch Brando — on the heels of his breakthrough role in Broadway’s” A Streetcar Named Desire” — from the train station. He drove the burgeoning sun to his uncle and uncle’s house in San Marino, where they all had supper.
After Brando and Fred Zinnemann met the following morning, Kanter requested the actor visit the MCA office to meet the various providers.
” ]Brando ] said,’ I do n’t have to meet anybody, you’re my agent,'” Kanter , recalled in 2017.
He claimed that at the moment, Wasserman was receiving calls from Brando theater executives without stop.
” Lew said,’ Well, I ca n’t arrange it, you’d have to talk to his agent,'” Kanter said. ” They said,’ Who’s that?’ and he said,’ Jay Kanter,’ and they said,’ Who’s he?'”
A few years after, Kanter was representing a squad of A-list skills. A Hollywood star chooses a mailbox assistant as his agent, and his encounter with Brando led to the creation of the show” The Famous Teddy Z.” ( Kanter also , allegedly inspired , Jack Lemmon’s character in Billy Wilder’s 1960 comedy” The Apartment”. )
Jay Ira Kanter was born on Dec. 12, 1926, in Chicago to Muriel ( Gordon ) and Harry Kanter and spent his formative years in Los Angeles. He enlisted at age 17 in the Navy before moving on to the MCA after serving in World War II.
Kanter relocated to London and for seven years gave the studio the rights to Western films after the talent agency bought Universal Pictures in 1962. When Universal shut down its European operations, he moved to the United States to form a manufacturing company with business partners Elliott Kastner and Alan Ladd Jr.
Kanter and Ladd spent much of the 1970s and ‘ 80s working together at Fox, United Artists and the Ladd Co., going on to help produce blockbusters including” Star Wars”,” Alien” and” Blade Runner”.
Kanter and comedian Mel Brooks had long friendships, too. In the 1990s, the two began hosting meals for a group of original Fox managers and filmmakers. Kanter had a Friday meal similar to his that the week before his passing.
Brooks  , eulogized , Kanter on the day of his death:” Very sad news today. There are many great people in my life, but Jay Kanter is no exception. If you knew him, you loved him. He was more than a well-known representative. He was a faithful friend, generally that when you needed him. I know it’s a cliche but in Jay’s situation it is just so genuine: he will be greatly missed”.
After his first two couples — to Roberta Haynes and Judy Balaban — ended in divorce, Kanter in 1965 entered his fourth and longest wedding, to Kit Bennett, who died in 2014 after 49 times together.
He is survived by brother Adam Kanter, from his relationship to Bennett, son Michael Kanter, from his second marriage, a child, Amy Kanter, from his subsequent marriage, three grandchildren from his second wedding, Tom, Dustin and Cydney Bernard, and 10 children. Another girl from his subsequent wedding, Victoria Kanter Colombetti,  , died , in 2020.
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