Sue Mengers
| Sue Mengers | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Susi Mengers September 2, 1932 Hamburg, Germany |
| Died | October 15, 2011 (aged 79) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
| Occupation | Talent agent |
| Spouse(s) | Jean-Claude Tramont (m. 1973–1996; his death) |
Sue Mengers (September 2, 1932 – October 15, 2011) was a talent agent for many significant filmmakers and actors of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
Susi Mengers was born to Jewish parents George and Ruth Mengers in Hamburg, Germany. Several years of birth have been published, and while she was living, reporters stated "she won't say just when" she was born. In 1938, she arrived at age five in New York with her parents on the ship S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp. Neither of her parents spoke English at the time. Settling in Utica, New York, her father became a traveling salesman. 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.
Mengers entered the talent agency business in 1955 as a receptionist at MCA, at that time the dominant company of the trade, with a roster of clients that included Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. She also worked for a while as a secretary for freelance theatrical agency Baum & Newborn. Eventually, she was hired as a secretary at William Morris Agency, a powerhouse in the emerging TV business, where she remained until 1963, when a former Baum & Newborn colleague, Tom Korman, formed his own agency and hired her as a talent agent.
Her first big score 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. 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).
...
Wikipedia