Dick Guttman, the longtime Hollywood publicity executive and screenwriter who spent decades shaping the public images of some of the industry's biggest names, died Sept. 19 in Los Altos, Calif. He was 93.
Over a career built at Rogers & Cowan and later his own firms, Guttman and Pam and Guttman Associates, he represented Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Gene Hackman, Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Taylor and William Shatner, among many others.
Guttman's family moved to Los Angeles from St. Louis, Missouri, after World War II. According to his official biography, he spent his youth riding L.A. streetcars to wait outside the soundstage doors of popular radio dramas, gathering used scripts and autographs. His journalism career began even earlier, while he was a student at Fairfax High School covering high school sports for the Los Angeles Examiner.
While attending UCLA, Guttman took a part-time job with Rogers & Cowan PR before becoming a unit publicist in Europe, working on films including "Paris Holiday" and "The Key." It was in Paris, while serving as unit publicist on Billy Wilder's "Love in the Afternoon," that he met his wife, Gisela. The two married in 1956.
Back in Los Angeles, Guttman worked at Rogers & Cowan for more than a decade during an era when actors were no longer bound to studio contracts and, in his own words, "press agents" became essential to sustaining a star's career. In 1971, he partnered with Jerry Pam to launch Guttman & Pam, which grew into one of Hollywood's leading publicity agencies over the following two decades. He struck out on his own in the early 1990s, founding Guttman Associates, where he represented dozens of top stars while also promoting films such as "Unforgiven," "Dirty Harry," "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Conversation," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "All That Jazz," "The Year of Living Dangerously," "The Man Who Would Be King," "The King's Speech," "The Artist," "Shakespeare in Love" and "The English Patient."
Guttman Associates continues to operate today, with Guttman's colleagues Susan Madore and Rona Menashe now overseeing the firm.
His client roster extended beyond Hollywood actors to include author Sidney Sheldon, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and companies such as Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and Sanrio during its introduction of Hello Kitty.
Reflecting on the scope of his career, Guttman once said, "I've done the rough math, and my guess is probably 700 clients, and about 200 legends. I have been very blessed."
Beyond publicity, Guttman was also a screenwriter, credited on seven films including 1963's "Back Door to Hell," which starred Jack Nicholson, as well as television movies made in collaboration with director Joseph Sargent, including "Passion Flower" and "Ivory Hunters." In 2015, he published an autobiography, "Starflacker," chronicling his decades in the business.
Guttman lived in Malibu for more than 50 years before he and Gisela relocated to Los Altos last year.
He is survived by Gisela, his wife of 70 years; daughters Danielle Guttman Klein and Monika Guttman Robertson; granddaughters Alyssa Brucculeri and Claire Robertson; great-granddaughter Aria Brucculeri; and sister Joan Ostrow.
The family has requested donations be made to the Dick Guttman Memorial Fund at the Entertainment Industries Foundation, which supports members of the creative community through philanthropic efforts including wildfire relief.
