Jules Stephen Blauner (September 19, 1933 – June 16, 2015), commonly known as Steve Blauner, was

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, Pop music, pop, rock and roll, Folk music, folk, Swing music, swing, and country music. He started his car ...

's manager,(16 December 1994)
King of the Hip
''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'', Retrieved November 16, 2010 ("Bobby Darin never put down any music," says his outspoken former manager and close friend Stephen Blauner, 61, who played Colonel Parker to Darin's Elvis") producer, and member of

BBS Productions Raybert Productions was a production company that operated in the 1960s, founded by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider. Its principal works were the situation comedy ''The Monkees'' (and the group of the same name), and the 1969 movie ''Easy Rider'' ...

Life and career

He was born to Eugene and Marion Blauner on September 19, 1933. At the time of his birth, Blauner's parents had settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and he was born on 81st St. in Elmhurst Hospital. While in kindergarten, the family moved to

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

where he met childhood friend and future collaborator

Bert Schneider Berton "Bert" Jerome Schneider (May 5, 1933December 12, 2011) was an American film and television producer. He was responsible for several topical films of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the road film ''Easy Rider'' (1969), directed ...

. After watching ''

The Jolson Story ''The Jolson Story'' is a 1946 American musical biography film which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as Julie Benson (approximating Jolson's wife, Ruby Keeler), William Demarest a ...

'' (1946) on numerous occasions, Blauner developed a love for the entertainment business that he would soon pursue. While Blauner was serving in the air force, he visited the Copacabana nightclub in New York City where

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

was performing. Blauner idolized Davis and said to the singer, "The way you feel about Frank Sinatra is the way I feel about you". After Blauner completed his time in the military, he and Davis became very good friends. Blauner's first job in the entertainment business was as an agent at

GAC GAC or Gac may refer to: Companies and organisations * GAC Group, a Chinese automotive company based in Guangzhou, Guangdong * GAC Ireland, an Irish bus manufacturer established with Bombardier (1980–1986) * Games Administration Committee, a ...

, at that time the third largest booking agency in the world. He met with Harriet Wasser and soon discovered singer-songwriter

. Blauner had almost no experience in management, but he signed Darin with GAC. His first action in management was a Connecticut concert that assured him Darin would become a success. Later, after he left GAC, he asked Darin if he still wanted him to be his manager. Bobby Darin agreed and Blauner maintained his position as Darin's official manager until 1965. During this time, Bert Schneider became vice president and treasurer of

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

and after Darin had received his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in '' Captain Newman, M.D.'' (1963), the two men severed their professional connection, but remained friends. Blauner often referred to his management period with Darin as a "comet ride". Blauner soon began to work for

and worked on TV sitcoms such as ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...

'', ''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series, created by Sidney Sheldon that starred Barbara Eden as a sultry, 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman, as an astronaut with whom she falls in love and eventually marrie ...

'', '' The Farmer’s Daughter'', ''

Hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

'' and ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

''. Blauner formed BBS with producers Bert Schenider and

Bob Rafelson Robert Jay Rafelson (February 21, 1933 – July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Among his best-known films as a ...

and during that time, the company produced the Academy-Award-winning documentary '' Hearts and Minds'' (1974), and "New Hollywood" films ''

Five Easy Pieces ''Five Easy Pieces'' is a 1970 American drama film directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce) and Rafelson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, and Ralph Waite. The film tells the story ...

'' (1970), ''

The Last Picture Show ''The Last Picture Show'' is a 1971 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from the semi-autobiographical 1966 novel ''The Last Picture Show'' by Larry McMurtry. The film's ensemble cast includes T ...

'' (1971), ''

The King of Marvin Gardens ''The King of Marvin Gardens'' is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is ...

'' (1972), and '' A Safe Place'' (1971). Blauner continued to represent the Bobby Darin estate for the rest of his life. Blauner himself appeared in a few videotaped comedy "blackout" sketches for television comedian

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...

during the early 1960s. One sketch was entitled "Whom Dunnit", where Blauner played a dimwitted panelist wearing a "Beany Copter" hat and sweatshirt emblazoned with the word "Trenton" (which was a mocking reference by Kovacs to his hometown of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...

in the 2004

biopic '' Beyond the Sea''.Clinton, Paul. (17 December 2004)
Review: 'Beyond' good, thanks to Spacey
''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

'', Retrieved November 16, 2010

Death

He died on June 16, 2015, from complications of a broken hip.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blauner, Stephen 1933 births 2015 deaths Film producers from New York (state) American music managers Businesspeople from New York City People from White Plains, New York 20th-century American businesspeople