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Sue Mengers

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Sue Mengers
Born
Susi Mengers

(1932-09-02)September 2, 1932
Hamburg, Germany
DiedOctober 15, 2011(2011-10-15) (aged 79)[1][2][3]
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationTalent agent
SpouseJean-Claude Tramont (m. 1973–1996; his death)

Susi Mengers (September 2, 1932[4] – October 15, 2011) was a talent agent for many filmmakers and actors of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.[5]

Early life

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Mengers was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of George and Ruth Mengers (née Levy).[5][6][7] Several years of birth have been published,[8][9][10][verification needed][11] and while she was living, reporters stated "she won't say just when" she was born.[12] In 1938, she arrived at age five in New York with her parents on the ship S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp.[13][verification needed][14]: 39  Neither of her parents spoke English at the time.[15] Settling in Utica, New York, her father became a traveling salesman.[16] After her father's suicide in a Times Square hotel, she relocated to the Bronx with her mother, who took a job as a bookkeeper.[14]: 40 

Career

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Mengers entered the talent agency business in 1955 as a receptionist at MCA.[5] She also worked for a while as a secretary for freelance theatrical agency Baum & Newborn. Eventually, she was hired as a secretary at the William Morris Agency, a powerhouse in the emerging television industry,[14]: 41  where she remained until 1963, when a former Baum & Newborn colleague, Tom Korman, formed his own agency and hired her as a talent agent.[14]: 42 

Her first big addition to her books was actress Julie Harris, who was primarily a stage performer. To Mengers' surprise, Harris wanted to appear on an episode of Bonanza. Mengers contacted the producer, who commissioned a specially written episode for Harris.[14]: 43  Mengers represented Anthony Perkins, who had not worked in the United States since Psycho (1960). She contacted producer Ray Stark and obtained for Perkins a role in director René Clément's film Is Paris Burning? (1966).[14]: 43 

In the late 1960s, she was hired by Creative Management Associates (CMA), a boutique agency owned by Freddie Fields. CMA's clients included Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Robert Redford.[14]: 44–45  On December 30, 1974, Fields sold the agency to Marvin Josephson's International Famous Agency (IFA); the two companies merged to become International Creative Management (ICM).[14]: 51  Mengers represented Candice Bergen, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Caine, Dyan Cannon, Cher, Joan Collins, Brian De Palma, Faye Dunaway, Bob Fosse, Gene Hackman, Sidney Lumet, Ali MacGraw, Steve McQueen, Mike Nichols, Nick Nolte, Tatum O'Neal, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Barbra Streisand, Gore Vidal, and Tuesday Weld, among others.[6] Mengers ceased to be Streisand's agent, she told the Los Angeles Times, after a disagreement over Yentl (1983), which gained Oscar nominations but was not a big box-office hit.[5] She retired from ICM in 1986 and returned to the William Morris Agency for a brief period from 1988-90.[citation needed]

Shortly after the Manson family Tate–LaBianca murders, Mengers reportedly reassured Streisand: "Don't worry, honey, stars aren't being murdered. Only featured players."[15]

Personal life

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On May 5, 1973, she married Belgian writer-director Jean-Claude Tramont at a chapel in Big Sur.[17][18] Barbra Streisand was her maid of honor, and Comte Bruno d'Oncieu was Tramont's best man.[14]: 50 [17] Tramont died on December 27, 1996, aged 66, from cancer.[19]

Death

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Mengers died on Saturday, October 15, 2011, from pneumonia at her home in Beverly Hills, California, at age 79. Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter posted a written tribute the following morning.[20]

Legacy

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References

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  1. ^ "United States Social Security Death Index, Sue Mengers, 2011". FamilySearch. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  2. ^ "Ms. Mengers claimed to be 78, although some sources listed her age as 79 or 81." Chmielewski, Dawn C.; Kaufman, Amy (October 17, 2011). Sue Mengers, Hollywood talent agent, dies in Beverly Hills. Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine Washington Post
  3. ^ According to the U.S. 1940 census, Mengers was born Susi Mangars and her age is given as 7 in April 1940, which would correspond to 1932 as her year of birth
    Estimated Birth Year: abt 1933
    Gender: Female
    Race: White
    Birthplace: Germany
    Marital Status: Single
    Relation to Head of House: Daughter
    Home in 1940: Utica, Oneida, New York
    Street: Stueben Street
    Inferred Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany
    Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany
    Citizenship: Alien
    Sheet Number: 8A
    Household Members:
    • Name Age
    • George Mangars 33
    • Ruth Mangars 31
    • Susi Mangars 7
  4. ^ The New York Daily News obituary (p. 24, October 17, 2011: "Mengers claimed to be 78 [sic], but she was believed to be 81.") indicates Mengers may have been born as early as 1930.
  5. ^ a b c d Cieply, Michael (October 16, 2011). "Sue Mengers, Hollywood Agent, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Sweet and Sour Sue". Time. March 26, 1973. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  7. ^ Brook, Vincent. From Shtetl to Stardom: Jews and Hollywood. Purdue University Press. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2017-04-16. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  8. ^ Sue Mengers 1938-. Contemporary Newsmakers (Report). Gale Research Co. 1985. ISBN 978-0-8103-2201-1.
  9. ^ McBride, Joseph (1983). Filmmakers on filmmaking: The American Film Institute seminars on motion pictures and television, Volume 1.. J.P. Tarcher. ISBN 978-0-87477-266-1. Born in Germany in the mid-1930s, she left with her parents in 1939 and settled in the Bronx.
  10. ^ Rosenfield, Paul (July 26, 1987). "Power players: Hollywood's Love-Hate Relationship With Agents". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ^ "Staff report". Los Angeles Times. April 7, 1988. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  12. ^ Biskind, Peter (2004). Gods and monsters: Thirty years of writing on film and culture from one of America's most incisive writers. Nation Books. ISBN 978-1-56025-545-1.
  13. ^ "United States INS - Port of New York - Manifest of Alien Passengers aboard the S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp" (Document). United States INS. August 13, 1938.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Abramowitz, Rachel (2000). Is That a Gun In Your Pocket? Women's Experience of Power in Hollywood (hardcover ed.). New York: Random House.
  15. ^ a b "Sue Mengers obituary". The Telegraph. October 21, 2011. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  16. ^ Kemper, Tom (October 10, 2013). R. Daniel Wadhwani (ed.). "Sue Mengers –Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present". German Historical Institute. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Haber, Joyce (May 9, 1973). "A Party Good for the Constitution". Los Angeles Times. p. 16.
  18. ^ Kaufman, Amy (October 16, 2011). "Sue Mengers, powerhouse Hollywood agent, dies at 79". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023.
  19. ^ "Death Index entry for Jean Claud Tramont, SS# 106-24-7005". Social Security. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
  20. ^ Carter, Graydon (October 26, 2011). "Remembering Sue Mengers: Everybody Came to Sue's". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  21. ^ Andrews, Julie; Edwards, Blake (December 1982). "Interview". Playboy (Interview).
  22. ^ Keck, William (February 12, 2001). "Scandal's History for 'These Old Broads'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  23. ^ Walters, Barbara (2008). Audition: A Memoir. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-307-26646-0.
  24. ^ Bette Midler on Her Return to Broadway. The New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  25. ^ Blake, Meredith (November 25, 2017). "Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein lend their fast-talking charm to Amy Sherman-Palladino's 'The Marvelous MRS. Maisel'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  26. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Fleming Jr, Mike (August 13, 2021). "Apple In Advanced Talks To Win Big Auction For Jennifer Lawrence-Sue Mengers Biopic Package". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
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