Jennings Lang
Jennings Lang | |
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Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | May 28, 1915
Died | May 29, 1996 Palm Desert, California, U.S. | (aged 81)
Occupation(s) | Film producer, screenwriter actor |
Spouse(s) | Monica Lewis (m. 1956-1996; his death); 3 sons |
Jennings Lang (May 28, 1915, New York City – May 29, 1996, Palm Desert, California) was an American film producer,[1] as well as a screenwriter and actor.
Biography
Lang was born to a Jewish family[2] in New York City, New York. Originally a lawyer, from New York City, he came to Hollywood in 1938 and set up an office as a talent agent. In 1940 he joined the Jaffe agency and within a few years became the company's president, and came to be known as one of Hollywood's leading agents.
In 1950 he joined the MCA talent agency and two years later became vice president of MCA TV Limited; in this capacity, he worked with MCA's subsidiary Revue Productions involved in developing, creating, and selling new series in the 1950s and '60s, such as Wagon Train, The Bob Cummings Show, and McHale's Navy.[citation needed]
In 1951, Lang was shot in the left inner thigh by film producer Walter Wanger,[3] who believed Lang was having an affair with his wife, actress Joan Bennett.
Lang survived, and Wanger, pleading insanity, served four months in prison. In 1956. Lang married actress-singer Monica Lewis and fathered three sons. The couple remained married until Lang's death in 1996. He produced and executive-produced movies from 1969 to 1986; in the mid-1970s, Lang produced a series of major epics, including Airport 1975 and Earthquake; the latter picture utilized Sensurround to augment the onscreen action with sound waves that sent tremors throughout the theater.[4]
Last years and death
A stroke in 1983 forced Lang's retirement. He died of pneumonia in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. Lang was survived by his wife Monica Lewis and their three sons.[4]
Filmography
Producer
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Presenter
- Play Misty for Me (1971)
- The Eiger Sanction (1975)
Screenwriter
- The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979)
Actor
- Real Life (1979)
References
- ^ a b Maslin, Janet (April 26, 1985). "SCREEN: 'STICK,' WITH BURT REYNOLDS". The New York Times.
- ^ Erens, Patricia The Jew in American Cinema ISBN 9780253204936 | ISBN 0253204933 | Publisher: Indiana University Press | Publish Date: August 1988 | p. 392
- ^ Autobiography of Monica Lewis: "Hollywood Through My Eyes" (Brule, WI, Cable Publishing, 2011) p. 162
- ^ a b Jennings Lang at IMDb
External links
- 1915 births
- 1996 deaths
- Film producers from California
- 20th-century American lawyers
- Jewish American screenwriters
- Burials at Desert Memorial Park
- American shooting survivors
- Infectious disease deaths in California
- Businesspeople from New York City
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- Deaths from pneumonia
- Screenwriters from New York (state)
- Film producers from New York (state)
- Screenwriters from California
- 20th-century American screenwriters