Frank Mancuso Sr., former Paramount and MGM chief, dies at 93
Frank Mancuso Sr., the executive who headed both Paramount Pictures and MGM/UA, died on Oct. 1 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 93.
The cause was complications of cancer, according to a family statement. Variety reported the death on Oct. 7.
Mancuso spent almost three decades at Paramount Pictures. He began as a film buyer, the job that selects which films go into cinemas, and finished as chairman and chief executive, the post that carries final responsibility for the studio organisation.
That rise took him from booking pictures theatre by theatre to overseeing production, budgets and release dates. A buyer works with cinema managers on what plays and when. A chairman signs off on what gets made, how much it can cost and when it reaches the public.
He was widely recognised in the industry as "the Godfather" and "Gentleman Frank", Variety reported. The names followed him through his years at the top of two studios.
By 1983, he was president of Paramount's motion picture division, the arm that handles cinema films. At the time he served under company chairman Barry Diller and president Michael Eisner, who oversaw the wider company.
Mancuso was selected to run Paramount after Diller left to head 20th Century Fox. The promotion put him in charge of the full slate, from development through to distribution, the system that moves a finished film into cinemas in the United States and Canada, known as domestic, and abroad.
In 1993, he took over MGM/UA from Alan Ladd Jr. The change placed a second major Hollywood studio under his leadership.
Three years later he helped engineer the $1.3 billion sale of MGM/UA to Kirk Kerkorian and Australia's Seven Network. The deal transferred ownership of the studio, including its catalogue of titles and the rights that produce future income.
He remained at the helm of MGM/UA until 1999. He then retired.
What makes this stand out is the span. His career began with choosing films for individual screens and ended with running the companies that finance, produce and sell them.
