Elliott Kastner

Early life and education

Kastner was born to a Jewish family in New York City. His father died when he was young and he was raised by his mother in Harlem.

He attended the University of Miami and Columbia University. During the 1950s he was stationed with U.S. Eucom (United States European Command), in Frankfurt, Germany and Paris, France.

Career

Kastner worked in the mail room at the William Morris Agency in New York, becoming a literary agent.

He moved to Los Angeles and became a talent agent at the Music Corporation of America (MCA). When that agency merged with Decca Records, which owned Universal Pictures, Lew Wasserman, the president of MCA, made Katner vice president of production at Universal. He worked there for two years before becoming an independent producer.

Producer

Katner's first film as producer was Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965) based on a script by William Inge and starring Ann-Margret and Michael Parks. Inge was so unhappy with the final result he requested his name be taken off the credits and the film was not a commercial or critical success.

Jerry Gershwin

Kastner then teamed up with producer Jerry Gershwin to form Winkast Film Productions, based out of Pinewood Studios in London. They wound up making eleven movies together, the first of which was the highly popular Harper (1966) from a novel by Ross Macdonald and directed by Jack Smight. The screenplay was written by William Goldman who had been talking to Kastner about a film of Goldman's novel Boys and Girls Together; Goldman suggested that the Ross MacDonald Lew Archer series would make a good movie, and Kastner bought the rights. Kastner then got Goldman to write a sequel The Chill, but it was never made.

Kastner's third film was Kaleidescope (1966), made in England, directed by Smight with Warren Beatty. Kastner and Gershwin raised the finance independently, and sold it to a studio, Warner Bros. "That was the beginning of producers taking control creatively by self financing,” said his stepson Cassian Elwes, who later became a producer himself.

Winkast then made The Bobo (1968), starring Peter Sellers and his then-wife Britt Ekland, and Sweet November (1968), with Sandy Duncan. Both were released through Warners, but Sol Madrid (1968) was released through MGM.

Sol Madrid was directed by Brian G. Hutton who helmed Kastner and Gershwin's next film, Where Eagles Dare (1968). The producer had managed to persuade Alistair MacLean to write an original screenplay as a vehicle for Richard Burton (it was later turned into a novel). The movie was a big hit and led to Kastner adapting several other MacLean stories and working with Burton a number of other times.

Less popular was The Night of the Following Day (1969) with Marlon Brando.

Burton was meant to star in Laughter in the Dark (1969) but was fired during filming and replaced by Nicol Williamson.

Other MacLean adaptations included When Eight Bells Toll (1971), Fear is the Key and Breakheart Pass (1975). He would also reteam with Burton on several occasions - as well as working with Burton's occasional wife, Elizabeth Taylor.

Kastner also partnered up with noted producers Alan Ladd, Jr. and Jay Kanter and together they produced the films Villain (1971), The Nightcomers (1972), Zee and Co. (1972) and Fear Is the Key (1972).

Kastner is also famous for his film adaptations of three Raymond Chandler's novels based on the exploits of one of Chandler's most famous creations, Philip Marlowe: The Long Goodbye (1973), Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978) the latter two both starring Robert Mitchum as Marlowe.

In 1976 Kastner produced The Missouri Breaks starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. Kastner famously got each star to commit by lying and telling them the other one had already signed.

In a 1977 article Mario Puzo wrote about the Cannes Film Festival said that a group of producers regarded Kastner as "the greatest genius in the movie business... [he] has put together very big films, nearly all of which are flops. And yet he can get the money and stars to produce any movie he decides to. He does it with a phone, irresistible charm, and shameless chutzpah."

Colleague Jay Kanter said Kastner's reputation in Hollywood was "Some good, some bad. He was relentless in pursuing what he wanted. I mean dogged in his pursuit.” He added "If Elliott believed in some material, he'd never hesitate to put his own money into buying it and hiring writers to develop a screenplay. He was passionate about what he did, and he was a terrific salesman as well."

His obituary in the Guardian stated that "Kastner was relentless in his pursuit of getting what he wanted. Mostly he wanted to entice well-known playwrights and novelists to write screenplays, or gain the rights of those works whose authors were no longer around to cajole."

Later years

In the mid 1980s Kastner frequently worked with his step son, Cassian Elwes. In the 1970s he had mentored Arnon Milchan.

In 1987 Kastner and a partner bought 70% of Cinema Group Home video.

In the late 1990s he bought Roger Corman's Concorde New Horizons for $100 million.

Kastner's career was marked by a number of lawsuits, including with Mickey Rourke, David McClintick and over the films Frank and Jesse.

Family

He was married and divorced twice. He was the second husband of the interior designer Tessa Kennedy (m 1971), with whom he had two children, a son, Dillon and a daughter, Milica. He had been introduced to Kennedy by Warren Beatty. "The marriage worked very well," says Kennedy. "For eight years we'd only spend three or four days a month together. It wouldn't have lasted more than a year if we'd been together because we're very different and volatile." Kennedy and Kastner separated in 1995.

He was also a stepfather to Kennedy's three sons from a previous marriage: film producer Cassian Elwes, artist Damian Elwes and actor Cary Elwes.

Death

Elliott Kastner died of cancer on June 30, 2010 in London at the age of 80.

Towards the end of his life he had approached David Thomson to see if he was interested in writing Kastner's biography. Thomson recalled: "He was the way producers were once supposed to be—showily cynical yet deeply attached to his projects; absolutely aware that a producer had to make a lot of pictures before the trash and the triumphs got sorted out; belligerent but sensitive, tough-mouthed sometimes; arrogant and Cagneyesque, but very well read; devoted to writers and alert to children... He admitted he had been a scoundrel sometimes—you had to be—but he knew there was good work to show for it."

According to one obituary he: "Was noted for his skill in bringing together writers, directors and stars for generally commercial (though sometimes surprisingly cerebral) films. He excelled in literary adaptations, from popular works such as those of Raymond Chandler and Alistair MacLean to the more esoteric output of such writers as Iris Murdoch, Vladimir Nabokov and Edna O'Brien. He also favoured tales with strong, single-minded heroes and produced films featuring such actors as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Robert Mitchum, Burt Reynolds and Richard Burton."

In 2014 it was announced a deal had been struck to release all of his films on DVD.

Filmography

Unmade films

Theatre credits