Jerry Weintraub Dies at 77

Jerry Weintraub, the well-connected producer behind series like Ocean’s Eleven and The Karate Kid, has reportedly died at 77.

Former President George H.W. Bush, a close friend, confirmed the news via a spokesperson in a message posted to Twitter.

Bush’s joke that Weintraub was a “black belt name-dropper” was not unfounded: Weintraub worked with everyone from Elvis Presley to Steven Soderbergh, and at 77, he was still working: he was the executive producer behind HBO’s new series The Brink, and won his most recent of three Primetime Emmys in 2014 for his work on Years of Living Dangerously.

Other recent noteworthy production credits include Behind the Candelabra, 41 (a documentary about Bush) and the forthcoming Tarzan, starring Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson, due in 2016.

Weintraub held iconic importance to Hollywood insiders, and in 2011, HBO released a documentary about the producer’s massive career: His Way, in which his Ocean’s Eleven collaborator Brad Pitt said, “I’m sure he’s got his funeral planned already, and it’s gonna be a great show.”

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