Jerry Weintraub Dies - George's tribute

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George Clooney, Ralph Macchio Among Stars Mourning Jerry Weintraub

George Clooney is among the Hollywood stars mourning legendary producer Jerry Weintraub, who died Monday at 77.
“In the coming days there will be tributes, about our friend Jerry Weintraub. We’ll laugh at his great stories, and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it. But not today. Today our friend died," Clooney said in a statement. "To his family and friends, Amal and I send our love. And to those who didn’t know him we send our deepest sympathy. You would have loved him.”
Gabe Polsky, who produced The Way, said: "I am in a state of shock. At times like these you start to recall all the memories. Imagine making a picture about Jerry Weintraub, one of the biggest producers ever, and you're producing the film about him? It wasn't an easy process, but my brother and I learned a lot of lessons. Each interview was, in itself, a lecture about how to do things in the business and in life. We were lucky to be part of that. He was incredibly supportive of my brother and I. If there were any questions we had, or issues, he would always immediately returns calls, and if he was in town he would have us over, and was always there. He played a lot of different roles — for me, he was at times like a coach, at times even a father figure, a colleague obviously and even sometimes a little adversarial. But he was a one of a kind guy — he was a really special guy that taught me a lot. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend quite a bit of time with him and witness his talents up close."

Weintraub produced Ocean's Eleven and its two sequels.
“He was an absolute original. I loved him and will genuinely miss him," Brad Pitt said in a statement.
Pitt's Ocean's Eleven co-star Don Cheadle said in a statement, "Jerry was to me equal parts Godfather, rainmaker, caretaker, PT Barnum and friend. I am happier for having known him. He will be sorely missed."
The Weintraub-produced miniseries Behind the Candelabra earned acclaim for HBO.
"Jerry was part of our family and we are devastated by his passing," HBO CEO Richard Plepler and president of programming Michael Lombardo said in a joint statement. "He was not only an incredibly gifted producer but a singular life force. He made everything we did together a joy. There is a great hole left without him."
Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara also mourned the producer.
“Jerry Weintraub was the consummate producer. He was creative, driven and could make projects come together like nobody else in the business,” said Tsujihara in a statement.  “Warner Bros. was fortunate to have a relationship with Jerry for almost four decades, including several projects currently in production.  He was a true original and he will be deeply missed.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.”
Weintraub also produced all five Karate Kid films, including the original three starring Ralph Macchio, who took to Twitter to remember Weintraub.

Douglas McGrath, the director of Weintraub documentary His Way, said: "They always say, 'They don’t make them like that anymore,' but I’m not sure they ever made them like Jerry. There was just Jerry, a total one-off: giant heart, endless energy, tough, sweet, smart and really, really funny."

I just read that he died of cardiac arrest - a heart attack. Hopefully it was fast and relatively painless.How sad that someone who seemed to enjoy life so much should die so young. (And to you youngsters who think 77 is ancient, just wait until you get a little older.)

 So sad. Prayers to his family and friends in their time of grief.

I'm just finding this out now as I read your post PAN.  I'm stunned.  I thought he was such a colorful character. The Ocean guys loved him and loved to make fun of him. He told great stories.  Smart and talented.  Weintraub was the last of a bygone era.
George's statement was very touching,  especially extending sympathy to those who never knew him because he was one of a kind.  I am so sorry to hear this.

Jerry talks about a George prank

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I am sorry

sad day today

Great obituary here. Says it all


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Jerry Weintraub was a great storyteller.  If anyone is interested Weintraub wrote a book "When I Stop Talking You Will Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories From A Persuasive Mind" which is full of stories of people who he knew and worked with over the years.  And he knew everybody ... especially in Hollywood.

For those who didn't know Weintraub was one of the cofounders along with George, Brad, Matt and Don of Not On Our Watch.

I love that "My condolences to those who didn't know him - you would have loved him." That's really lovely.

yes

Missa wrote:I love that "My condolences to those who didn't know him - you would have loved him." That's really lovely.

Yes I liked that too. It sounded very George. 

It's obviously a sad sudden loss for everyone who knew 
Jerry Weintroub.
I remember him opening his home in Nevada to the cast members
of Ocean's 11 while filming in Vegas.
It's a fabulous place. There are photos on the forum somewhere !

George's words, his sentiment, were perfect.  Couldn't have been said better.  It's George's statement that is highly cited in almost every media outlet that covered this story.  The morning news program I watch quoted George this morning.  And they played a clip of an old interview of George imitating Jerry.  He did it so well.  It was very funny.  It was easy to make fun of Weintraub.  
But he didn't seem to mind.

I also read that Jerry actually was in the hospital when he went into cardiac arrest.  

So sad tho.  He wasn't that old.  But he did like to drink ....

as G too
it seems...

Very very funny interview

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The fact that they were both laughing while telling this story is very telling of their relationship. ....... which was vastly different than most marriages I dare say!  Jerry has been married to Jane for 50 years (I think) but has had an ongoing relationship with another woman for 20 years.  And they are all friends. They even socialize together.

amazing woman !!!!

Watched video.....I'm surprised he survived so long....bold bold boy.....Who lived a LIFE....

This is a brilliant anecdotal piece on Harvey Weinstein's memories of Jerry Weintraub - and many of our famous characters!!

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Harvey Weinstein On How Jerry Weintraub Made His Daughters Feel Like High Rollers In Vegas

Since Jerry Weintraub passed away, there have been several lively reminiscences of his larger than life journey that began promoting Elvis Presley concerts, to becoming the producer of films like Ocean’s Eleven. Many of the best stories focused on the hijinks surrounding the making of the Ocean’s Eleven series of films in Las Vegas. Occasional Deadline contributor Harvey Weinstein had a good one and was gracious enough to share.  

Jerry Weintraub had style.
He was Old School, and the best of Old School. I knew him a long time. I knew him since I was 20 years old — and that is, well, a very a long time. I had started a concert company with my partner, Corky, and one day we got a call from Jerry, who wanted to produce Frank Sinatra at the Buffalo Arena in Buffalo, New York. He said, “Try to find a way of scaling the seats so that we make more money than we would on just a traditional sell-out.”

Well, we came up with the idea of a ‘Gold Circle.’ People could pay a thousand dollars a ticket to come back stage, meet Frank Sinatra and say hello. Just two rows behind the gold circle, the tickets were a hundred bucks. Anyhow, he was very, very impressed and at the end of the Sinatra concert, he said for the first time in my life, “that idea was pretty smart.” And then he said, “here’s two grand in cash tip.” (I’m absolutely positive I filed that tip with the IRS – no inquiries, please.)
So began a lifelong friendship and my idolization of Jerry Weintraub. When I told my eldest daughter, Lily, that Jerry Weintraub had passed, she said, “Dad, you’ve got to tell that story about George Clooney.” So, here it is.
Let me start by saying, I never go to anyone else’s sets. But, when the first Ocean’s Eleven was being filmed, the cast and crew were a family of friends. Steven Soderbergh, who we’d done sex, lies and videotape and Kafka with, was directing. Matt Damon was also a huge part of our lives, from Good Will Hunting and more. George Clooney (From Dusk Til Dawn, etc) and Brad Pitt were there.
All the boys invited me to come, so I went to Las Vegas and I brought my kids Lily and Emma with me — they were 6 and 3 at the time. At the Bellagio, we went downstairs to see George, Brad and Matt. They were all staying on the same floor of the hotel, and George had a giant pool in his room.
He met my girls — who couldn’t believe a guy could have a pool in his own room — and told them, “Come by in the morning! You can swim in my pool all day, starting at 7:30 or 8 o’clock in the morning. I’ll be up, we’ll have breakfast and you can hang out and swim and relax.” The girls went, “Wow, dad!” and looked at me with eyes that said, “he’s way cooler than you.”
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Anyhow, with anticipation, my two girls woke me up at the crack of dawn and we got there at 7:30 or 8 o’clock and just as they were about to knock on George’s door, Matt charged out and said, “Hey, don’t go in there!” Jon Gordon, who was a good friend of Matt’s and working at the time as my second head of production, jumped out and echoed Matt, “Don’t go in there!” I asked why. They took me aside and explained, “George went to a nightclub last night and invited the entire club back to his room. They’re all in there and your kids will be mentally disturbed forever if they go into that room.”
And then, sauntering down the hall came Jerry Weintraub. He was in a dressing gown, yelling at the top of his voice, “F*** YOU CLOONEY! F*** YOU CLOONEY!” I looked at Jerry, half ready to explain that my girls would be fine without a morning swim, and asked what was going on.
Jerry started to explain. The night before had been an overnight shoot, and he’d told everyone that he wanted to sleep in.
George, a master of impressions, had apparently added a new voice to his repertoire. The hotel concierge received a call from “Jerry” the night before, insisting that he had to be awake at 7:30 AM, and if he did not wake up, they were to keep calling…and calling…and calling until he did. Three hours of sleep later, the Bellagio operator was wrangling with the real Jerry, and Jerry, it seemed, was about to wrangle with Clooney.
That was the moment Jerry met my kids — sleep deprived and in the middle of, what I have to say, was a pretty great prank. Jerry and I told my girls all about Sinatra, how we’d gone on when we were kids to promote Elvis, and about our many other great adventures over the years.
Jerry looked at my girls, who were looking for the pool and were so disappointed, and said, “Come with me.” He took us upstairs to a special room at the Bellagio which was filled with kids’ games and slot machines and all sorts of games of chance. He talked to a couple of guys at the Bellagio and about 15 minutes later, they came back with an enormous roll of coins and handed them to my girls. And, for the next half-hour they won every game in the room.
Now, I always thought Vegas was monitored, but I guess when you’re Jerry Weintraub and you want to impress a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old, all bets are off. The girls won game after game. They thought they were the luckiest two girls in the world and in a way they were, because they got to meet the great Jerry Weintraub in person, who had a heart of gold and a sense of mischief that lasted a lifetime.
And by the way, as my daughters reminded me when I showed them this piece, three days later the biggest array of toys and stuffed animals (there must have been three of four thousand dollars worth) came from FAO Schwarz, with a note saying:

Dear Lily and Emma,
I’m sorry I couldn’t make breakfast, but I hope you enjoy these!
Love,
Uncle George

When Ocean’s Eleven was playing in Cannes, and I needed him to come to amfAR, Jerry brought all the boys. They engaged in “kissing contests” and raised about a million dollars in 10 minutes for amfAR. When Jerry Weintraub said, “I’ll take care of it,” Jerry Weintraub did. And I am sure that he is in heaven and taking care of it, in Jerry Weintraub fashion[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.].
My condolences to his family and my heartfelt thanks to Jerry for making the world a better place, and a much brighter one too.

What a great story.  Boy, George sure knows how to party.  Sweet gesture on his part to make .amends with Weinstein's daughters.

the whole night club ...


huge room indeed

mmhh I thought this was not so nice from George to invite Kids for a swim and then when the Kids get up all excited they have been told they can't go in as he had to Party. Yes nice to sent toys later on but still...good that Jerry was there and offered the Kids something else. Otherwise they would have been really disappointed.  I know it was years ago... I'm sure today he wouldn't do something like this again. I guess...

I agree . Must have been a bacchanal in there . Oh my .

Nicky80 wrote:mmhh I thought this was not so nice from George to invite Kids for a swim and then when the Kids get up all excited they have been told they can't go in as he had to Party. Yes nice to sent toys later on but still...good that Jerry was there and offered the Kids something else. Otherwise they would have been really disappointed.  I know it was years ago... I'm sure today he wouldn't do something like this again. I guess...

That' something all parents love:
Somebody promises kids something and then forgets and disappoints them...

I also hope he wouldn't do this nowadays but he wasn't that young when they shot Ocean's Eleven. It came out 2001 so was shot 1999 or 2000 when he was in his late thirtees. Not a lot of responsibility though...

Filming Dates
11 February 2001 - 7 June 2001

George turned 40 during filming.

melbert wrote:Filming Dates
11 February 2001 - 7 June 2001

George turned 40 during filming.

Let's be honest - George's maturity didn't catch up to his chronological age until very recently.

........as he freely admitted

Yes, you're right!

Although I sometimes wonder if the always pranking and joking George Clooney is the real one. I don't mean it in the way that he's acting to make us believe that and it's not true. I just think that when he's involved in issues on Darfur and Sudan / South Sudan and is really trying to make the world a better place (and I don't doubt that that's true) there has to be a more serious side on him than we as the audience and fans get to know. Maybe this seriousness didn't involve his private life until recently but I think it has always been there.

carolhathaway, I see George that way too.  There have people who know him well who state that he has a very serious side.  His work, humanitarian efforts, his family.  He respects the importance of those things.

His private life not so much.  The one aspect of his life where he seemed to want to keep relationships at that " let's have a good time and keep things easy going" level.
Work hard and play hard.  Not that he didn't respect his relationships but just preferred not to commit to them too seriously.

I suspect no hard feelings ever came out of the hotel incident. If there were it was short lived.  Weinstein has been a friend and big supporter of George over the years.

I don't think he's any different than the rest of us. There are times when you need to be serious and there are times when you can kick back and let loose. Unfortunately for him, everything he does is scrutinized by the whole world. Silly things that the rest of us might do and go completely unnoticed get spread all over the media when George does them, but the serious stuff hardly gets a mention.

LizzyNY wrote:I don't think he's any different than the rest of us. There are times when you need to be serious and there are times when you can kick back and let loose. Unfortunately for him, everything he does is scrutinized by the whole world. Silly things that the rest of us might do and go completely unnoticed get spread all over the media when George does them, but the serious stuff hardly gets a mention.

Lizzy,

you're probably right!

I couldn't even imagine to live his life, it would frighten me to death. And under any circumstance I would not want to live Amal's life. The only advantage would be to be with George which would be a big plus factor. But to be watched every time, be analyzed and judged by everything you say, do or wear, not to be able to live a normal life - never!

it's surely really hard

but better not forget
many asks for it

and also we know G can fly under radar many times