“He had a rare ability to read a script and see what could be,’’ actor Richard Gere (right) said of talent agent Ed Limato.
(Frank Micelotta/Imagedirect/File 2002)
Ed Limato, 73, talent agent and vestige of another era
“He had a rare ability to read a script and see what could be,’’ actor Richard Gere (right) said of talent agent Ed Limato.
(Frank Micelotta/Imagedirect/File 2002)
LOS ANGELES — In an industry packed with over-the-top personalities, the talent agent Ed Limato had no trouble standing out. His typical workday started like this: Clad in a salmon-pink Richard James suit, he would charge into the office and rattle the keys to his Aston Martin convertible in a morning salute to his pet fish. Then, with a flourish of his arm, he would summon his three assistants by shouting, “Let’s talk to the stars.’’
After a four-decade career representing the likes of Denzel Washington, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Mr. Limato died July 3 at the mansion he shared with his mother in the Hollywood Hills. He was 73.
The cause was emphysema complicated by pneumonia, said a spokesman for his employer, William Morris Endeavor.
Beyond the A-list client roster and moviedom razzle-dazzle — he was well known for his extravagant Oscar and pool parties — Mr. Limato was a vestige of a different era. Most top-tier talent agents today are busy diversifying into other businesses: sports, corporate brands, private financing. Limato stood apart by actually serving as a talent agent.
“He was the bridge between old-time Hollywood and Hollywood present,’’ Gere said in an interview.
Like that of any agent, the core of Mr. Limato’s job involved lining up work. Gere recalled that Mr. Limato “bamboozled’’ him into accepting the role of Billy Flynn in the film version of “Chicago’’ by telling him that the director desperately wanted him. (Not exactly true.) At the same time he told the director, Rob Marshall, that Gere desperately wanted the part. (Not true.)
“Ed was a master at orchestrating all of the feelings correctly,’’ Gere said. “He had a rare ability to read a script and see what could be.’’
But what truly set Mr. Limato apart from other agents was his constant hand-holding. No client’s need was too small.
Gibson in particular benefited from Mr. Limato’s attention. After a drunken driving arrest led to an anti-Semitic tirade by Gibson in 2006, Mr. Limato pushed studios to hire him and defended him to the media, going so far as to throw a drink in the face of a reporter for The New York Post.
“Never in your life have you heard somebody scream louder than Ed Limato,’’ said Andrew Finkelstein, a William Morris Endeavor agent.
Edward Frank Limato was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., worked briefly as a disc jockey in Panama City, Fla., and by the early 1970s had taken a job in the mail room of the Ashley-Famous Agency in Manhattan.
Mr. Limato eventually hopped to International Creative Management in Los Angeles and suggested Pfeiffer for the “Scarface’’ role that made her a star. After a stint at William Morris, he returned to ICM, where he rose to co-president.
In 2007, after ICM’s new owners tried to shift him into an emeritus-type position, Mr. Limato sued to be released from his contract.
He won and rejoined William Morris, taking his clients with him.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
