Producer Bernie Brillstein dead at 77

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Famed Hollywood talent manager, television and film producer Bernie Brillstein has died following a long illness. He was 77.

LA Weekly reported Friday that Brillstein's longtime business partner Brad Grey and Brillstein client Lorne Michaels were handling arrangements for a memorial service for next week, while a funeral is expected to be private.

Brillstein began his career in the publicity department at the William Morris Agency, and then went on to be an agent with Martin Kummer Associates, which was later known as Management 3. Brillstein left that company in 1970 and opened his own company, where he acted as a personal manager and TV packager.

In 1975, he sold both Jim Henson's "The Muppet Show" and Michaels' "Saturday Night Live," LA Weekly noted.

Brillstein went on to help broker deals for some of the most popular movies of the 1970s and '80s, such as "Animal House," "The Blues Brothers" and "Ghostbusters." He collaborated on TV shows like "Alf," "Buffalo Bill," "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" and "The Gary Shandling Show."

He served as chief executive officer of Lorimar Film Entertainment until the movie studio and his management company were bought and folded into Warner Bros.

Brillstein teamed up with Grey for Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, a talent management and filmed entertainment production company. Grey eventually primarily ran the business, but left in 2005.