{"id":102622,"date":"2017-05-16T09:26:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T13:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=102622"},"modified":"2017-05-16T09:26:18","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T13:26:18","slug":"former-paramount-pictures-ceo-brad-grey-dies-at-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/16\/former-paramount-pictures-ceo-brad-grey-dies-at-59\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey dies at 59"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brad<\/a>
Brad Grey, an influential Hollywood leader who served as the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures for 12 years, has died. (Photo: Classic Hollywood\/Los Angeles\/SFV\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Brad Grey, an influential Hollywood leader who served as the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures for 12 years, has died.<\/p>\n

A family spokeswoman said Monday that Grey, who was battling cancer, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 59.<\/p>\n

Before exiting Paramount in February, Grey oversaw franchises like \u201cStar Trek,\u201d \u201cTransformers\u201d and \u201cMission: Impossible,\u201d prestige properties like \u201cThere Will Be Blood,\u201d \u201cNo Country for Old Men,\u201d \u201cUp in the Air,\u201d \u201cThe Big Short,\u201d \u201cThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button\u201d and \u201cBabel,\u201d and multiple films from Martin Scorsese including \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street,\u201d \u201cShutter Island\u201d and \u201cHugo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grey also produced Scorsese’s \u201cThe Departed,\u201d which won Best Picture in 2007.<\/p>\n

During his storied career in the entertainment business, Grey founded the management and production company Brillstein-Grey Entertainment with the late Bernie Brillstein, co-founded the production company Plan B Entertainment with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and produced multiple Emmy Award-winning television shows, including \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d and \u201cThe Larry Sanders Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Hollywood peers and colleagues offered their remembrances on Monday.<\/p>\n

Director Ava DuVernay, who worked with Grey on \u201cSelma,\u201d wrote on Twitter that she had dinner with him prior to the film’s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cFab stories. Good laughs. And shrewd advice that I still use,\u201d DuVernay wrote. \u201cMay his soul be at rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cG.I. Joe: Retaliation\u201d director John Chu called Grey, \u201cA really good man. Kind & classy and a helluva boss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man the world has lost a gentleman,\u201d Chu wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Current Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos also released a statement Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us at Paramount are deeply saddened by the news of Brad Grey’s passing,\u201d Gianopulos said. \u201cI was proud to call Brad a friend, and one I greatly admired. He will be missed by us all, and left his mark on our industry and in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viacom President and CEO Bob Bakish said he was, \u201cAn extraordinary talent with a passion and gift for storytelling that won’t be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sumner and Shari Redstone, in a joint statement noted how Grey’s \u201ctremendous kindness and talent inspired so many of us in the entertainment industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a producer and industry leader, Brad brought great storytelling to audiences around the world,\u201d added MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd in a statement. \u201cHis contributions to the creative community will be enjoyed for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among his achievements at Paramount, Grey was at the helm for the release of the top-grossing film in the studio’s history, \u201cTransformers: Dark of the Moon,\u201d led the acquisition of DreamWorks SKG, and shepherded the distribution agreement with Marvel, releasing \u201cIron Man, \u201cIron Man 2,\u201d \u201cThor\u201d and \u201cCaptain America\u201d before The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Studios in 2009.<\/p>\n

Recently, however, the studio had struggled with underwhelming box office receipts for films including \u201cZoolander 2\u201d and \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,\u201d and counted losses of nearly $450 million last year, leading to his exit in February.<\/p>\n

Born in New York in 1957, Grey started out in the entertainment business as an assistant to Harvey Weinstein, who was then a concert promoter. His first client was comedian Bob Saget, and his partnership with comics, including the late Garry Shandling, helped make his name in the business.<\/p>\n

Grey is survived by his wife, Cassandra Grey, their son, Jules, three children from a previous marriage, Sam, Max and Emily, his mother Barbara Schumsky, his brother, Michael Grey, and his sister Robin Grey.<\/p>\n

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Brad Grey, an influential Hollywood leader who served as the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":102623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}