Ed Limato, 1936-2010

For four decades, through stark changes in Hollywood movies and mores, Ed Limato remained a powerful agent to the stars. “He was the bridge between old-time Hollywood and Hollywood present,” said longtime client Richard Gere.

Born into a middle-class Italian-American family in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Limato loved show business from an early age, said TheHollywoodReporter.com. After working as a disk jockey, in 1967 he became an assistant to director Franco Zeffirelli on the set in Rome of The Taming of the Shrew. Zeffirelli’s agent helped Limato land a job in the mailroom of the Ashley-Famous Agency, a precursor of International Creative Management. Rising through the ranks, he eventually oversaw a “mini-fiefdom,” with the aid of three personal assistants.

“For Limato, it was always, first and foremost, about the artist,” said TheDailyBeast.com. He spent most of his career at ICM and the William Morris Agency, representing a dazzling roster that included Marlon Brando, Denzel Washington, and Michelle Pfeiffer. He carried in his pocket a laminated card with the names of his clients, for whom he fought tenaciously.

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Known for his flamboyant dress style, Limato lived with his mother in an estate built by Dick Powell, said TheAtlantic

.com. His annual pre-Oscar party, which he hosted in bare feet, was a hot ticket. “He is certainly the last man in our business who will be able to wear a cape to work and get away with it,” said producer Lynda Obst. But Limato, Obst said, was best known for loyalty of “mafia proportions.”

He stood by actor Mel Gibson through a series of career-endangering mishaps, including Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade during an arrest for drunken driving. Limato even proposed Gibson for the Jewish protagonist in a film version of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral. “Mel was the ultimate testimony to Ed’s dogged loyalty,” said Variety, “and how he would never give up on anybody.”