Veteran awards strategist Murray Weissman, who had a hand in the Oscar campaigns for seven Best Picture winners, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Studio City, California, a family spokesperson told TheWrap. He was 90 years old.
Weissman co-owned Weissman/Markovitz Communications with his son-in-law, Rick Markovitz. He spent 14 years working for Harvey Weinstein and most recently worked on Emmy campaigns FX’s “American Horror Story,” as well as AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men.”
“Murray Weissman was an essential part of ‘Mad Men.’ His understanding of creative people, his patience, his cleverness with gatekeepers, and his unflagging taste served as an example to me and to generations of artists,” said “Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner. “I will miss him and I feel so lucky to have been part of his personal and professional life.”
Weissman counted Frank Sinatra among his former clients, and he had a golden touch when it came to the Academy Awards dating as far back as 1974, when “The
Weissman was also involved in the Oscar campaigns for Best Picture winners “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Dances With Wolves” and “Crash” as well as Miramax’s winning trio of “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “Chicago.”
Weissman was also behind Lionsgate’s unprecedented decision to send screeners of “Crash” to the entire voting membership of SAG, which honored the film with its ensemble SAG Award before it went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. Other awards contenders he worked on include “Lincoln,” “Nebraska” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Weissman was born on December 23, 1925 in Brooklyn. He moved to Los Angeles in 1936 with his family, graduated from Fairfax High School, and attended the University of Southern California’s School of Journalism. He served as a Navy radio operator during World War II in 1944-45.
The New York native broke into Hollywood by doing promotional work for TV Guide before landing a job at KABC-TV in Los Angeles. Eventually, he moved from ABC to CBS before embarking on a 10-year stint at Universal. Weissman went on to opened his own PR firm following short stints at Independent Communications PR and Rogers & Cowan.
Weissman died knowing he was loved, having been feted by his friends and family in mid-November in honor of his 90th birthday.
He is survived by his second wife, actress and dancer Kay Friedman Weissman (whom he married after the death in 1995 of his first wife Gracia Lee Weissman); daughter Julie Weissman Markovitz; son-in-law Rick Markovitz; son Benjamin Weissman; daughter-in-law Amy Gerstler; and three grandchildren, Ethan, Jonathan and Elizabeth Markovitz.