Sue Mengers

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Sue Mengers
File:Sue Mengers.jpg
Born
Susi Mengers

(1932-09-02)September 2, 1932
Hamburg, Germany
DiedOctober 15, 2011(2011-10-15) (aged 79)[1][2][3]
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationTalent agent
SpouseJean-Claude Tramont (m. 1973–1996; his death)

Susi Mengers (September 2, 1932[4] – October 15, 2011) was a talent agent for many filmmakers and actors of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.[5]

Early life

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Mengers was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of George and Ruth Mengers (née Levy).[5][6][7] Several years of birth have been published,[8][9][10][verification needed][11] and while she was living, reporters stated "she won't say just when" she was born.[12] In 1938, she arrived at age five in New York with her parents on the ship S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp.[13][verification needed][14]: 39  Neither of her parents spoke English at the time.[15] Settling in Utica, New York, her father became a traveling salesman.[16] 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.[14]: 40 

Career

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At 17, Mengers answered an MCA ad for "receptionist, theatrical agency" and entered the talent agency business in 1955 as a receptionist.[17][5] She also worked for a while as a secretary for freelance theatrical agency Baum & Newborn. Eventually, she was hired as a secretary at the William Morris Agency, a powerhouse in the emerging television industry,[14]: 41  where she remained until 1963, when a former Baum & Newborn colleague, Tom Korman, formed his own agency and hired her as a talent agent.[14]: 42 

I was a little pisher, a little nothing making $135 a week as a secretary for the William Morris Agency in New York. Well, I looked around and I admired the Morris office and their executives, and I thought: “Gee, what they do isn’t that hard, you know.” And I like the way they live, and I like those expense accounts, and I like the cars. And I used to stay late at the office, just like “All About Eve,” and I suddenly thought: “That beats typing.”[17]

Mengers's first big addition to her books 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.[14]: 43  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).[14]: 43 

In the late 1960s, Mengers was hired by Creative Management Associates (CMA), a boutique agency owned by Freddie Fields. CMA's clients included Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Robert Redford.[14]: 44–45  On December 30, 1974, Fields sold the agency to Marvin Josephson's International Famous Agency (IFA); the two companies merged to become International Creative Management (ICM).[14]: 51  Mengers represented Candice Bergen, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Caine, Dyan Cannon, Cher, Joan Collins, Brian De Palma, Faye Dunaway, Bob Fosse, Gene Hackman, Sidney Lumet, Ali MacGraw, Steve McQueen, Mike Nichols, Nick Nolte, Tatum O'Neal, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Barbra Streisand, Gore Vidal, and Tuesday Weld, among others.[6] Mengers ceased to be Streisand's agent, she told the Los Angeles Times, after a disagreement over Yentl (1983), which gained Oscar nominations but was not a big box-office hit.[5]

On 1 August 1986, she retired from International Creative Management (ICM) when her contract expired[17] and returned to the William Morris Agency for a brief period from 1988-90.[citation needed]

Shortly after the Manson family Tate–LaBianca murders, Mengers reportedly reassured Streisand: "Don't worry, honey, stars aren't being murdered. Only featured players."[15][17]

Personal life

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On May 5, 1973, Mengers married Belgian writer-director Jean-Claude Tramont at a chapel in Big Sur.[18][19] Barbra Streisand was her maid of honor, and Comte Bruno d'Oncieu was Tramont's best man.[14]: 50 [18] Tramont died on December 27, 1996, aged 66, from cancer.[20]

In 1988, after retiring from the talent agency business, for nearly 20 years, Mengers held A-List Hollywood evening salons of 8-12 people that included Jennifer Aniston, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Mel Brooks, Graydon Carter, Neil Diamond, Angie Dickinson, Barry Diller, Michael Douglas, Maureen Dowd, Robert Downey Jr., Nora Ephron, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, William Friedkin, David Geffen, Tom Hooper, Anjelica Huston, Elton John, Diane Keaton, Sherry Lansing, Fran Lebowitz, Bryan Lourd, Kelly Lynch, Ali MacGraw, Bill Maher, Princess Margaret, Lorne Michaels, Bette Midler, Jack Nicholson, Ryan Phillippe, Sidney Poitier, Frank Rich, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, David Semel, Joanna Shimkus, Martin Short, Alessandra Stanley, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Trudie Styler, Gore Vidal, Billy Wilder and Richard D. Zanuck. Some of the aforementioned people attended smaller lunch gatherings that were for women only. [21][22][23]

Mengers's parties in her agenting days included Lauren Hutton, Mike Nichols and Paul Schrader.[23]

Mengers introduced Barry Diller to his future wife Diane von Fürstenberg.[22]

She would never not be found with a joint in her hand.[21][22]

Death

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Mengers died on Saturday, October 15, 2011, from pneumonia, "after a number of small strokes, and a lifetime of illnesses"[22] at her home in Beverly Hills, California, "surrounded by three of her close friends, Ali MacGraw, Joanna Poitier, and Boaty Boatwright",[22] at age 79. Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter posted a written tribute the following morning.[22]

Legacy

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References

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  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ "Ms. Mengers claimed to be 78, although some sources listed her age as 79 or 81." Chmielewski, Dawn C.; Kaufman, Amy (October 17, 2011). Sue Mengers, Hollywood talent agent, dies in Beverly Hills. Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine Washington Post
  3. ^ According to the U.S. 1940 census, Mengers was born Susi Mangars and her age is given as 7 in April 1940, which would correspond to 1932 as her year of birth
    Estimated Birth Year: abt 1933
    Gender: Female
    Race: White
    Birthplace: Germany
    Marital Status: Single
    Relation to Head of House: Daughter
    Home in 1940: Utica, Oneida, New York
    Street: Stueben Street
    Inferred Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany
    Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany
    Citizenship: Alien
    Sheet Number: 8A
    Household Members:
    • Name Age
    • George Mangars 33
    • Ruth Mangars 31
    • Susi Mangars 7
  4. ^ The New York Daily News obituary (p. 24, October 17, 2011: "Mengers claimed to be 78 [sic], but she was believed to be 81.") indicates Mengers may have been born as early as 1930.
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