Feature: New light on a Hollywood legend

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- "Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood," a new book on Lew Wasserman, blends investigative reporting with celebrity gossip for an inside look at the legendary Hollywood mogul.

Wasserman was a legend in his own time -- one of the most powerful agents in entertainment, who became one of the most powerful executives in the industry. So a large portion of "Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood" is, by necessity, a review of details that have been on the record for years -- his early days working at a mob-owned casino in Cleveland; his rise to the top of Music Corporation of America; the U.S. Justice Department antitrust investigation of his company in the 1960's.

But the author of "Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood," Boston Globe Hollywood correspondent Kathleen Sharp, has provided a new wrinkle in chronicling Wasserman's life -- by focusing not simply on his exploits but also on the contributions of his wife, Edie, a formidable Hollywood presence in her own right.

"I saw their love of show business," said Sharp in an interview with United Press International, "and through their lives I kind of got a chance to relive the Hollywood heyday of the '40s and '50s, when stars were really elegant and gracious."

The book features interviews from hundreds of Hollywood figures, including movie and TV executives and stars such as Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. It is rife with tales of personal relationships among some of the entertainment capital's richest and most famous citizens, from the smallest tidbits to the most shocking infidelities.

Sharp also enjoyed a benefit that other Wasserman biographers did without -- unprecedented access to Wasserman himself over several years prior to his death in 2002.

"I had already written a draft of the book before I met Lew" said Sharp in an interview with UPI. "I started the project in 1996, and kept asking him for an interview. When I got into see him I already knew a lot but his voice meant a lot."

Sharp said she had nearly finished writing the book when Wasserman died, and immediately began rewriting, because his death clarified -- for her -- his place in Hollywood history.

"I don't think anyone measures up to Lew Wassermann," she said.

Wasserman's reputation as a power-player was already solid long ago. Sharp presents him as something of a visionary as well -- a man willing to take risks, who actually rung up some significant losses in a career that was characterized by almost unbelievable prosperity.

For example, Sharp said Wasserman more or less invented what we now know as the DVD, but didn't see the project through long enough to become the main beneficiary of the technology.

"In 1972, he was convinced that some technology that he had found would herald the next big entertainment revolution," she said. "He invested 10 years and $100 million on laser disc technology. He closed down that operation about a year before another company introduced the CD."

Wasserman was reputed to be the author of one of Hollywood's most enduring bits of conventional wisdom -- that no matter how far apart two sides might seem to be in a negotiation, there is always a deal to be made.

"His talent was to listen closely to what the other side wanted, to leave his ego out of the negotiations, and to come up with a fair solution," said Sharp. "He always believed there was always a deal to be made when he was an agent and a deal to be found when he was a studio chief."

Sharp's book provides fresh details of possibly one of the most daring real estate deals in the history of Hollywood -- a middle-of-the-night transaction in which Wasserman and MCA acquired the 367-acre property where Universal Studios was located -- and where the world-famous theme park now stands -- for next to nothing. Wasserman subsequently engineered the acquisition of the studio itself in a transaction that involved no competitive bidding.

MCA had already been known informally as "the octopus," because the company had its arms around so many entertainment performers and venues, and the acquisition of Universal Studios added greatly to its image. Eventually, though the U.S. Justice Department, under the late Robert Kennedy, carried out an antitrust investigation.

As a consequence, Wasserman ended up closing MCA's talent agency business and began focusing on movie and TV production. Sharp called that something of a loss for Wasserman, as well.

"He dealt with public humiliation," she said. "Many of the agents believed that Lew had struck a deal with RFK to let him out gracefully. Many of the MCA agents who adored Lew believed that Lew had worked with RFK to finagle this government action so that Lew could out of this agency business so he could devote full steam to the studio business."

Sharp's book also addresses long-running allegations that MCA and former President Ronald Reagan benefited from a "sweetheart deal" when Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, one that ended up costing many Hollywood performers significant amounts of income from residual payments.

But it debunks a long-held impression that Wasserman and Reagan were personally close.

"Lew did not really like Ronald Reagan," said Sharp. "He made a point of having a secretary call me and say he had never worked on Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial campaign. He wanted that clearly understood."