Lazar appears as a character in Peter Morgan's stage play Frost/Nixon, first staged at the Donmar Warehouse, London on August 10, 2006, and played by actor Kerry Shale. In 1999 Simon & Schuster editor-in-chief Michael Korda published his memoirs, entitled Another Life: A Memoir of Other People. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles next to his wife who had died in January that same year from liver cancer.Īt the time of his death, Lazar was working on his autobiography, Swifty: My Life and Good Times, which was completed by Annette Tapert and published by Simon & Schuster in 1995. Doctors wanted to amputate, but Lazar, who was being treated at home via peritoneal dialysis, refused. Lazar died in 1993, aged 86, from complications stemming from diabetes, which had cut off circulation to his feet. Lazar married Mary Van Nuys, a model, in 1962. Lazar got him fired, which led the broke (and now unemployed) actor to write something for himself to star in since he was not being offered anything, and was inspired to write A Bronx Tale. Lazar tried to enter and was stopped by Palminteri, who did not know who he was. In 1988, a party was thrown for Lazar at a nightclub where Chazz Palminteri, who was then a struggling actor, was working as a bouncer. Avildsen's Neighbors (1981), starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and he was an associate producer on two television miniseries, The Thorn Birds (1983) and Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985). Lazar was an executive producer (with Bernie Brillstein) of John G. A film version was produced during the same period.ĭuring the 1950s Lazar expanded from Hollywood deal-making to doing book publishing deals. It was a huge success, playing on Broadway and on tour around the U.S. Arnold, agreed and the play Winged Victory was written by Moss Hart and produced by Hart and Lazar. The Air Forces commanding general, Henry H. Army Air Forces that it produce a play to encourage enlistment and to raise funds for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Oscar Levant said of Lazar, 'Everybody who matters has two agents: his own and Irving Lazar.' ĭuring World War II, Lazar, with Benjamin Landis, suggested to the U.S. Lazar's power became such that he could negotiate a deal for someone who was not even his client and then collect a fee from that person's agent. In addition to Bogart, Lazar became the agent representing other celebrities, including Lauren Bacall, Truman Capote, Cher, Joan Collins, Noël Coward, Ira Gershwin, Cary Grant, Moss Hart, Ernest Hemingway, Gene Kelly, Madonna, Walter Matthau, Larry McMurtry, Vladimir Nabokov, Clifford Odets, Cole Porter, William Saroyan, Irwin Shaw, President Richard Nixon and Tennessee Williams. After putting together three major deals for Humphrey Bogart in a single day, he was dubbed 'Swifty' by Bogart. Lazar moved to Hollywood in 1936 but maintained a presence in New York until after World War II when he moved to Los Angeles permanently. While practicing bankruptcy law during the early 1930s, he negotiated a business deal for a vaudeville performer Ted Lewis, and realized the income potential for acting as an agent. He graduated from Fordham University and Brooklyn Law School in 1931. Samuel Lazar was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York.

Irving Paul ' Swifty' Lazar (born Samuel Lazar Ma– December 30, 1993) was an American lawyer, talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors (including Richard Nixon).

American lawyer (1907–1993) Irving Lazar and Polly Bergen

Irving swifty lazar biography