Irving Lazar

Irving "Swifty" Lazar was the legendary Hollywood talent agent whose image as a dapper, elfin deal-maker with Coke-bottle glasses and bald dome made him a caricaturist's dream represent some of the greatest talent in Hollywood including Humphrey Bogart, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Faye Dunaway, Richard M. Nixon, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, and John Huston (to name a few). Mr. Lazar, who wore trademark oversize dark eyeglasses, called himself the Prince of Pitch (he hated "Swifty") who won record fees for his clients when such mega-deals were unheard of including the sale of Truman Capote's novel "In Cold Blood" for $500,000, the musical "Camelot" for $1.4 million and he sold Neil Simon's play "The Odd Couple" when it was only a five-sentence summary. He also started the tradition for annual Oscar-night parties with his own private annual Oscar-night dinner party at Spago.