Revered talent manager George Shapiro, who served as producer of "Seinfeld," died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California at age 91, Entertainment Weekly reported Sunday.
Born in the Bronx, Shapiro's career began in the mailroom at his uncle Carl Reiner's talent firm William Morris Agency in New York. Shapiro was promoted to junior agent in the packaging department. After recruiting longtime friend Howard West to join him, they were transferred to the Los Angeles office, where Shapiro gathered talent for various TV shows, including "The Steve Allen Show" and "That Girl," as well as for specials that were headlined by juggernauts like Dick Van Dike and Mary Tyler Moore.
Shapiro and West established their entertainment firm Shapiro/West & Associates in the 1970s. From there, Shapiro would assemble top talent and also executive produce various projects including for Kaufman, with credits including 1979's "Andy's Funhouse," 1980's "Andy Kaufman at Carnegie Hall," and 1995's "A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman."
Shapiro's additional TV special credits include "Elayne Boosler: Broadway Baby" and "Jerry Seinfeld: Stand-Up Confidential." His film credits include "Summer Rental" and "Man on the Moon," in which he also starred.
Shapiro also produced documentaries like 2001's "Comedian," 2003's "The Bronx Boys," 2017's "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast," Entertainment Weekly noted. More recently, he worked as executive producer on Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" as well as "The Super Bob Einstein Movie."
Shortly after news of Shapiro's death broke, co-workers and friends took to social media to pay tribute. Among them was veteran sitcom producer Norman Lear, who remembered his friend in a tweet.
"One of the dearest people I have ever known, George Shapiro, just passed," Lear wrote. "I bless our friendship and, at 99, I'm sure I'll see him relatively soon."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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