Gordon Stulberg
| Gordon T. Stulberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 17, 1923 Toronto |
| Died | October 12, 2000 (aged 76) |
| Cause of death | diabetes |
| Nationality | Canada United States |
| Education |
University of Toronto Cornell University |
| Known for | president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox, Cinema Center Films, Polygram Pictures |
| Spouse(s) | Helen |
| Children | Jac Stulberg Sita Stulberg Scott Stulberg Lysianne Stulberg |
Gordon T. Stulberg (17 December 1923 – 12 October 2000) was a Canadian-born film executive and lawyer, best known for a long stint as president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox and Cinema Center Films and Polygram Pictures.
Stulberg was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, the son of a labor organizer. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a J.D. from Cornell University before moving to Los Angeles. He became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1951.
After school, he worked in entertainment law with the firm Pacht, Ross, Warne & Bernhard and represented among others the Writers Guild of America. In the 1954 writers strike he served as chief counsel and negotiator for the guild helping to establish the concept of "separation of rights and residuals" which ensured that all writers would receive payment for their work regardless of the format in which it was used, be it in plays, radio, television, film, or simply for sales promotion. In 1956, Stulberg joined Columbia Pictures as an executive assistant to Ben Kahane, second in charge to Harry Cohn, and worked his way up through the company, becoming in 1960, vice president and chief studio administrative officer.
In 1967, Stulberg was hired by CBS president William S. Paley to run CBS' new motion picture division, called Cinema Center Films where he oversaw 26 films including Little Big Man (1970) and The Boys in the Band (1971).
In 1971, he was approached by 20th Century Fox to be president and chief operating officer when Fox's future was threatened by banks intending to call in their loans, which they offered to extend only if Stulberg were hired. He worked with chairman and CEO Dennis Stanhill. Stulberg worked to turn around the studio's financial performance. He had some notable successes and some failures as well but over all opinion on Stulberg's tenure was quite positive in light of his salvaging and reallocating misused funds, revamping the studio's sagging image, and his foresight in making such films as the epic classic Star Wars (1977) and cult favorites like Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Sounder (1972). In 1974 Stulberg left Fox after differences with Stanhill and returned to practicing law at the entertainment law firm of Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp for five years.
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