David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943)[2] is an American
business magnate, producer, film studio executive, and philanthropist.
Geffen created or co-created
Asylum Records in 1970,
Geffen Records in
1980,
DGC Records
DGC Records in 1990, and
DreamWorks SKG
DreamWorks SKG in 1994. His donations
to the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and other educational
and research donations have widened his fame beyond the entertainment
industry.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Business career
2.1 Asylum Records
2.2 Geffen Records
2.3 Geffen Film/DreamWorks SKG
3 Coastal Access
4 Philanthropy
5 Politics
6 Awards and honors
7 Personal life
7.1 Art collection
7.2 Yachts
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
Early life
David Geffen was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York, to Abraham
Geffen and Batya Volovskaya (1909—1988). Geffen's mother owned a
clothing store in Borough Park called Chic Corsets by Geffen.[3][4]
Both of his parents were Jewish immigrants who met in British-mandated
Palestine and then moved to the United States.[5] Geffen graduated
from Brooklyn's
New Utrecht High School
New Utrecht High School in 1960 with a 66 percent
average. He attended the
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin for a semester,
and then Brooklyn College, before again dropping out. He then moved to
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California to find his way in the entertainment
business.[6] He attended
Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College (then known as Santa
Monica City College) in Santa Monica, California, but soon left.
Geffen attributed his challenges in school to dyslexia.[7]
Business career
After a brief appearance as an extra in the 1961 film The Explosive
Generation, Geffen began his entertainment career in the mailroom at
the
William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency (WMA), where he quickly became a talent
agent. In order to obtain the WMA job, he had to prove he was a
college graduate. As he later reported in an interview, he claimed in
his job application at WMA that he had graduated from the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Because he worked in the
mailroom, Geffen was able to intercept a letter from
UCLA
UCLA to WMA which
stated that he had not graduated from UCLA. He modified the letter to
show that he had attended and graduated, then submitted it to WMA. [8]
His colleagues in the mailroom included Elliot Roberts, who later
became Geffen's partner in a management company. Geffen left William
Morris to become a personal manager and was immediately successful
with
Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro and Crosby, Stills and Nash. When Geffen was engaged
in the process of looking for a record deal for young Jackson Browne,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records founder
Ahmet Ertegün
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Ahmet Ertegün suggested that Geffen start
his own record label.
Asylum Records
Geffen founded
Asylum Records in 1970 (with Elliot Roberts) after
Geffen was unable to get
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne a record deal anywhere else.
The name Asylum was chosen because of the owners' reputations for
signing artists who would struggle to find a record company that would
contract with them. The label was distributed by
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records at
this time. Asylum signed artists such as the Eagles, Joni Mitchell,
Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Judee Sill, and
J.D. Souther. Asylum was later acquired by Atlantic's parent company,
Warner Communications, and merged with
Elektra Records
Elektra Records in 1972 to
become Elektra/Asylum Records.
Geffen remained in charge until December 1975, when he went to work as
vice chairman of
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. film studios.[9] He then retired and in
1977 was informed (erroneously) that he had cancer.[10] During his
retirement period he spent a short time (the fall of 1978 and spring
of 1979) teaching a noncredit seminar on the music industry and arts
management at Yale University, where he featured classroom guests
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne and Paul Simon.[11] In 1980 a new medical diagnosis
revealed the error in the original diagnosis[12] and Geffen was given
a clean bill of health, whereupon he decided to return to working in
the entertainment industry.
Geffen Records
In 1980, he founded
Geffen Records and recruited
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
exec Ed Rosenblatt as president. The Geffen label's meteoric rise to
prominence within the year proved a bittersweet success. Geffen's
first artist to sign on was Donna Summer, who was anxious to leave
Casablanca/PolyGram Records.[citation needed] Geffen shortly after
released her The Wanderer album, the lead single of which reached #3
on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album certified gold. Casablanca
countered by releasing more singles off her 1979 Bad Girls album such
as the song Walk Away and a similarly named hits compilation to
compete, but by then New Wave sound was dominating the
airwaves.[citation needed]
The November 1980 release of John Lennon's album
Double Fantasy
Double Fantasy seems
an impressive feat for a new label, but at the time Lennon stated that
Geffen was the only one with enough confidence in him to agree to a
deal without hearing the record first. Yoko Ono, Lennon's wife and
partner, stated that Geffen was the only label head to pay attention
to her. In December 1980, Lennon was murdered and Double Fantasy
became a massive seller. Over the years Geffen Records/DGC has become
well known as a label, releasing works by the likes of Olivia
Newton-John, Asia with Steve Howe and John Wetton, Elton John, Cher,
Sonic Youth, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, XTC, Peter Gabriel, Lone Justice,
Blink-182, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Lifehouse, Tyketto, Pat Metheny,
Sloan, the Stone Roses and Neil Young.
The label was distributed by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records since its inception
but, in 1990, the label was sold to MCA Records. Geffen continued to
run the label before leaving
Geffen Records in 1995.[13] The Geffen
label is today is part of the Interscope-Geffen-A&M division of
MCA's successor, Universal Music Group, formed as the result of the
1999 merger between the MCA and PolyGram families of labels.[citation
needed]
Geffen Film/DreamWorks SKG
Through the Geffen Film Company, Geffen produced dark-tinged comedies
such as (the 1986 version of) Little Shop of Horrors, Risky Business
and Beetlejuice. Geffen was the Broadway backer for the musicals
Dreamgirls and Cats. In 1994, Geffen co-founded the DreamWorks SKG
studio with
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. In 2008, Geffen
left DreamWorks.[14]
Coastal Access
Until 2017 Geffen owned a Malibu compound on Carbon Beach.[15] In 1983
Geffen was granted permits from the
California Coastal Commission
California Coastal Commission to
build a Cape Cod-style compound over multiple beachfront lots in
exchange for creating a public pathway to the beach. He failed to
build that pathway and in 2002 filed a lawsuit to block public access
altogether.[16][17] After a protracted three-year legal battle, Geffen
reached a settlement with the Coastal Commission, granting the public
a nine-foot-wide easement to the beach and reimbursing the state and
non-profit groups $300,000 in legal fees.[18] The pathway was opened
on May 30, 2005 to national and international media
coverage.[19][20][21] The controversy has been called the "most famous
Malibu battle" for beach access.[22] The Coastal Commission later
contacted the state transportation department without receiving a
response to ask if the curb cuts that prevented public parking were
valid, amid rumors that Geffen had installed four fake garage
doors.[23][24]
Philanthropy
Geffen has developed a reputation as a prominent philanthropist for
his publicized support of medical research, AIDS organizations, the
arts and theatre. In 1995 he donated $5 million towards UCLA's
Westwood Playhouse. The theatre was renamed the Geffen Playhouse.
According to
Forbes
Forbes ("The 400 Richest Americans of 2004") and other
sources, Geffen has pledged to give whatever money he makes from now
on to charity, although he has not specified which charities or the
manner of his giving. In 2002, he announced a $200 million
unrestricted endowment for the School of Medicine at UCLA. The School
thereafter was named
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Along
with Kenneth Langone's gift to New York University School of Medicine,
Geffen's donation is the largest donation ever made to a medical
school in the United States.[25][26] On December 13, 2012, UCLA
announced that Geffen had donated another $100 million in addition to
his 2002 donation of $200 million, making him the largest individual
benefactor for the UC system.[27] The latest donation funds the full
cost of attendance for up to 30 students per year, beginning with the
Class of 2017.
In 2015, Geffen pledged $100 million toward renovation of what was
then called Avery Fisher Hall, part of Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts in New York. His gift, which amounted to about 20% of
the hall's renovation costs, gave him naming rights in perpetuity over
the building, now known as
David Geffen Hall.[28]
Politics
He was an early financial supporter of President Bill Clinton. In 2001
he had a falling out with the former president over Clinton's decision
not to pardon Leonard Peltier, on whose behalf he had lobbied the
President.[29]
Geffen was an early supporter of
Barack Obama
Barack Obama for president and raised
$1.3 million for Obama in a star-studded Beverly Hills
fundraiser. On February 21, 2007, in an interview with
Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd of
The New York Times, Geffen described
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton
in unflattering terms: "Everybody in politics lies, but they do it
with such ease, it's troubling." He said that
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton was
"incredibly polarizing" and described
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton as "reckless" and
cast doubt on those who say he has become a different person since
leaving office.[29][30]
Along with other celebrities including
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg and Brad Pitt,
Geffen donated money to try to prevent Proposition 8 from becoming law
in California.[31][32][33]
Awards and honors
Geffen was named one of the 2010 recipients of
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun Award
from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[34] Geffen was awarded with the
President's Merit Award for "indelible contributions to the music
industry" from the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at
the
53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards in February 2011.[35]
Personal life
Geffen has an estimated net worth of $6 billion, making him one of the
richest people in the entertainment industry.[1]
He is gay. In May 2007, Out magazine ranked Geffen first in its list
of the fifty "Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America".[36]
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell and Geffen were close friends and, in the early 1970s,
made a trip to Paris with
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson and Robertson's wife,
Dominique. As a result of that trip, Mitchell wrote "Free Man in
Paris"[37] about Geffen.[38]
Geffen can be heard on Barbra Streisand's The Broadway Album, released
in 1985. The track "Putting It Together" features Geffen, Sydney
Pollack, and Ken Sylk portraying the voices of record company
executives talking to Streisand.[39]
Geffen is the subject of several books, most recently The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood (2001) by Tom
King, who initially had Geffen's cooperation, but later did not. An
earlier biography was The Rise and Rise of
David Geffen (1997) by
Stephen Singular. He is also a featured character in Mailroom:
Hollywood History From The Bottom Up by David Rensen, in Mansion On
The Hill by Fred Goodman, in Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns, and
in several books about Michael Ovitz.
He was the subject of an
American Masters
American Masters
PBS
PBS television documentary
entitled Inventing David Geffen. The documentary was directed by Susan
Lacy and was first broadcast on 20 November 2012.[7]
His older brother Mitchell (born Mischa) Geffen (1933–2006) was an
attorney who attended
UCLA
UCLA Law School[40] and later settled in Encino,
California. Mitchell Geffen fathered two daughters, who are David's
closest surviving relatives.
Art collection
Geffen is a keen collector of American artists' work, including
Jackson Pollock,
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. According to the
chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Paul
Schimmel: "There's no collection that has a better representation of
post-war American art than David Geffen's."[29]
In October 2006, Geffen sold two paintings by
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns and a De
Kooning from his collection for a combined sum of $143.5 million.
On November 3, 2006, the
New York Times
New York Times reported that Geffen had sold
Pollock's 1948 painting
No. 5, 1948
No. 5, 1948 from his collection for
$140 million (£73.35 million) to Mexican financier David
Martinez. Martinez is the founder of London-based Fintech Advisory
Ltd, a financial house that specializes in buying Third World debt.
The sale made
No. 5, 1948
No. 5, 1948 the most expensive painting ever sold
(outstripping the $134 million paid in October 2006 for Gustav
Klimt's portrait Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, purchased by
cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder).
Wealth-X reported in June 2013 that Geffen owns the most valuable
private art collection in the world, and estimated its worth at $1.1B
at the time.[41]
In February 2016, Bloomberg News reported that Geffen had sold De
Kooning's 1955 oil painting, Interchanged, for $300 million, and
Pollock’s 1948 painting, Number 17A, for $200 million, both to hedge
fund billionaire Ken Griffin.[42]
Yachts
In 2007, Geffen bought a half-share in friend Larry Ellison's luxury
yacht Rising Sun, then at 138 meters (453 ft) the sixth largest
motor yacht in the world. After Ellison ordered a new and more compact
91 metres (299 ft) yacht, he sold his remaining half share in
Rising Sun to Geffen in 2010.[43]
In 2009, Russian billionaire
Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich agreed to a divorce
settlement with his wife Irina that resulted in her taking ownership
of the 115-meter (377 ft) yacht Pelorus. Approached on Geffen's
behalf by broker Merle Wood, Geffen bought Pelorus in 2011 for $300
million.[44][45]
See also
Geffen Playhouse
References
^ a b "David Geffen". Forbes. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, p. 12, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ "
David Geffen Biography (1943-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved
2014-06-29.
^ Internet Movie Database, bio, "David Geffen", at [1].
^ Pfefferman, Naomi (July 23, 2012). "David Geffen: prickly and terse
about his Judaism". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
Retrieved 2012-07-30.
^ Weinraub, Bernard (May 2, 1993). "David Geffen, Still Hungry".
Retrieved June 4, 2014.
^ a b About: Inventing
David Geffen PBS, 2012-11-07.
^ Trott, Dave (2015). One + One = Three (First ed.). London, England:
Macmillan. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4472-8703-2. Retrieved 13 March
2017.
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, pp. 261-262, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, p. 282, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, p. 294, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, pp. 296-297, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ "
David Geffen Biography The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum". Rockhall.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
^ Michael Cieply, "David Geffen, Savior of Dream Works, Makes a Sudden
Exit," Oct. 27, 2008, The New York Times.
^ David, Mark (2017-05-03). "
David Geffen Sells Oceanfront Malibu
Compound for Record Price". Variety. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ WEISS, KENNETH R. (2002-07-12). "Not All Quiet on the Beachfront".
Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ ROUG, GINA PICCALO AND LOUISE (2002-07-09). "The Pathos and the
Pain". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved
2018-03-06.
^ Weiss, Kenneth R. (2005-04-16). "Geffen to Reimburse $300,000". Los
Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ Harris, Paul (2005-04-17). "Hollywood boss loses fight to keep a
beach to himself". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ Navarro, Mireya (2005-06-05). "In Malibu, the Water's Fine (So Don't
Come In!)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved
2018-03-06.
^ "Beach access next to Geffen's home opened". Malibu Times. Retrieved
2018-03-06.
^ "Beach Closed, Keep Out: Billionaire Tries to Block Surfers". NBC
News. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ Abcarian, Robin. "Long overdue: Malibu elitists who impede public
access now face fines". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ Groves, By Martha. "Malibu beach guide helps sort out parking,
access, all in an app". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
^ "N.Y.U. Medical Center Gets Another $100 Million Gift".
^ "
David Geffen Gift to School of Medicine /
UCLA
UCLA Spotlight".
Spotlight.ucla.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ Kingkade, Tyler (December 14, 2012). "
David Geffen Donates $100
Million For Scholarships To
UCLA
UCLA Medical School" – via Huff
Post.
^ Wise, Brian (March 4, 2015). "Avery Fisher Hall to Be Renamed David
Geffen Hall". WQXR. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
^ a b c "Faces of the week". BBC News. February 23, 2007. Retrieved
May 1, 2010.
^ "What Geffen Said About Hillary". Newsmax.com. February 22, 2007.
Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ "Proposition 8 contributions". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived
from the original on December 7, 2008.
^ "Proposition 8: Who gave in the gay marriage battle?(Dreamworks
Skg)". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
^ "Proposition 8: Who gave in the gay marriage battle? (Dreamworks
Studios)". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
^ "Congratulations to the 2010
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees!".
Archived from the original on December 23, 2009. Retrieved December
15, 2009.
^ "53rd GRAMMY Awards Season Hits High Notes". Retrieved May 7,
2011.
^ "The Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America". Out Magazine. May
2007. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
^ "News Archive - Your link to SouthCoast Massachusetts and beyond".
SouthCoastToday.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2004.
Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood, p. 192, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ "Album of the Month for BarbraNews.com by Steven Housman".
Barbranews.com. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ See generally Tom King, The Operator:
David Geffen Builds, Buys, and
Sells the New Hollywood, p. 31, Broadway Books (New York 2001).
^ "Private Wealth: Geffen's Art Collection Tops In Value". June 29,
2013.
^ "Billionaire drops $500M for 2 masterpieces," Feb. 19, 2016,
Bloomberg News, as republished by Fox News, at [2].
^ "
David Geffen Takes Possession Of "Rising Sun", World's Sixth
Largest Yacht". boatworktimes.com. October 25, 2010. Archived from the
original on December 6, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
^ David Pelly. "Iconic yachts: Pelorus". boatinternational.com.
Retrieved 2012-12-25.
^ Jared Paul Stern (July 14, 2011). "David Geffen's New $300 Million
Yacht Gets Upstaged By A Russian Businessman's Boat In Mallorca".
businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012.
Retrieved October 2, 2011.
External links
David Geffen on IMDb
David Geffen at the
Internet Broadway Database
Internet Broadway Database
David Geffen at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Forbes.com:
Forbes
Forbes World's Richest People
Is
David Geffen gearing up to buy the LA Times?
David Geffen at AllMusic
'I Remember David Geffen', by Steve Holt
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