Ron Kass (March 30, 1935 – October 17, 1986) was an American businessman, recording executive, manager of The Beatles, and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Kass worked with at least four recording companies: Liberty, MGM, Warner Brothers, and Apple Records.

Early life

Born Ronald Stanley Kashinoff in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his family changed the name to Kass when they moved to California. He attended Fairfax High Schoolin Los Angeles where he played in a band that became Tijuana Brass and then got a degree in accounting from UCLA.

Career

Kass married his UCLA sweetheart, Anita, and started working for

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

which was directly across from

Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Histo ...

. He was promoted to overseas manager and eventually president of Liberty. He started working for Apple Records, the label set up by The Beatles, in 1968 and 1969 which was when he divorced Anita. He was effectively forced from his position at Apple by the Beatles' new manager Allen Klein after he was falsely accused of "financial impropriety" (he was succeeded in the position by his former deputy Jack Oliver). Kass's film producing credits included ''

Melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

'' (1971), '' The Optimists'' (1973) starring Peter Sellers, '' Naked Yoga'' (1974) nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject, '' The Stud'' (1978) and '' The Bitch'' (1979) both based on novels by Jackie Collins, and starring her sister Joan Collins. He and Collins appeared on '' Tattletales'' in 1977 & 1982.

Personal life

With Anita his first wife, they had their first son David, and then Kass moved to London but settled his family in Lugano, Switzerland, where they had two more sons, Roberto and Jonathan. After their divorce, Anita raised their children in Lugano. As adults their children later moved to the US. In 1972, Kass married Joan Collins. They had a daughter, Katyana ("Katie"), born in 1972. Kass and Collins were divorced in 1983, but reportedly remained close. Collins provided for Kass's medical care when he was ill with terminal cancer, in addition to flying his sons from Switzerland to their father. Kass died from cancer in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 51 with Collins at his bedside.

References

External links

*
New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kass, Ron 1935 births 1986 deaths American entertainment industry businesspeople American film producers Apple Records 20th-century British musicians 20th-century American businesspeople