The beginnings of Marvin Josephson as a talent agent were humble. The only client Mr. Josephson had was Bob Keeshan, the children's television performer who would become known as Captain Kangaroo.
It wasn't much of a foothold, but it was enough to start a career that would make Mr. Josephson a major behind-the-scenes force representing actors, directors, authors and more. A newspaper headline in 1977 summed up his reach after 22 years after he started his personal management agency and two years after his thriving company established a subsidiary called International Creative Management. Hire Marvin Josephson.
He died at his home in Manhattan. Nancy Josephson said the cause was pneumonia.
In a field where Michael Ovitz and other super-agents became famous, Mr. Josephson kept a low profile. When Newsday published a profile of him in 1991, he agreed to provide a photograph to go with it only if the article specified that he had declined to be interviewed in depth for the piece.
He told the newspaper that he didn't believe that an agent should get a lot of publicity.
As his business grew, Mr. Josephson negotiated personally on behalf of a few of his clients. He had just struck a $5 million deal on behalf of Henry A. Kissinger for his memoirs, which was the reason for the 1977 article. He personally handled deals for many people.
Mr. Josephson was able to acquire other firms that were larger than his own.
He is more sponge than agent, according to a 1969 article in The Los Angeles Times.
He was good at anticipating public tastes. Steven Spielberg, the writer and the screenwriter of the top-grossing film of 1975, were represented by Josephson ASSOCIATES, his umbrella company. The New York Times reported in June 1977 that the firm had high hopes for another movie that had been written and directed by George Lucas. The movie was Star Wars.
Marvin is one of the most important people in American entertainment, but unlike many of the great powers, he has managed to.
Joseph and Eva Rivka Josephson ran a dress shop where Marvin was born.
He graduated from high school in Atlantic City, served in the Navy at the end of World War II, earned a bachelor's degree at Cornell University, and obtained a law degree in 1952. He worked in the legal department at CBS.
Newsday reported that Mr. Josephson started his own management company in 1955 after three years of writing contracts convinced him that talent would be better represented by him. He thought that the broadcast journalists at CBS might be a potential source of business because they are often stopped to say hello by passers-by.
He told The Miami Herald in 1984 that they thought of themselves as newsmen.
The CBS newsman, Charles Collingwood, became his first client. He had another client, Mr. Keeshan.
The local kiddie show Tinker's Workshop was on WABC-TV in New York at the time. WABC argued that the program was theirs and that Mr. Josephson was trying to move the show to CBS.
Marvin went and saw the station manager and played him well. Mr. Keeshan told Newsday in 1991.
The deal was struck, and Tinker's Workshop became a footnote. Mr. Keeshan started a program at CBS in 1955 called Captain Kangaroo.
Mr. Josephson's company continued to grow for decades. The company went public in 1971 and was renamed Josephson International Inc in 1975.
Mr. Josephson took the company private again in 1988, and his subsidiaries represented many A-list actors and writers. He gave many of his management duties to his daughter in the 1990s. A controlling interest in the company was sold to a private investor.
Mr. Josephson was married in 1950. They divorced in 1970. He married Tina Chen in 1973. He is survived by his daughter Nancy and two other children from his first marriage, as well as two children from his marriage to Ms. Chen. Joseph was from his first marriage.
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