Jay Weston, producer of films like “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Buddy Buddy,” died of natural causes Feb. 28 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 93.
Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about her starring Diana Ross in 1972. “Lady Sings the Blues” marked Ross’ feature debut and went on to score five Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Ross and original screenplay.
“I read the book and I said to [Holiday’s] agent, ‘I want to make a movie out of it,’” Weston said in a 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, referring to the jazz singer’s autobiography. “He said, ‘Give me $5,000, and I’ll think about it.’ So I gave him $5,000, and it took 13 years and many $5,000 payments to keep the rights because everybody wanted it.”
The veteran filmmaker...
Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about her starring Diana Ross in 1972. “Lady Sings the Blues” marked Ross’ feature debut and went on to score five Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Ross and original screenplay.
“I read the book and I said to [Holiday’s] agent, ‘I want to make a movie out of it,’” Weston said in a 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, referring to the jazz singer’s autobiography. “He said, ‘Give me $5,000, and I’ll think about it.’ So I gave him $5,000, and it took 13 years and many $5,000 payments to keep the rights because everybody wanted it.”
The veteran filmmaker...
- 3/3/2023
- by Katie Reul
- Variety Film + TV
Jay Weston, who was working as a publicist when a chance meeting with Billie Holiday at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival would lead to the producing of her 1972 biopic Lady Sings the Blues, died February 28 of natural causes at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA. He was 93.
His death was announced by spokesperson Jeff Sanderson on behalf of the Weston family.
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A prominent restaurant critic later in life, Weston’s show business career in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s was marked by such high points as producing Billy Wilder’s last film, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash with Carol Burnett and Alan Arkin, W.C. Fields...
His death was announced by spokesperson Jeff Sanderson on behalf of the Weston family.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Ricou Browning Dies: 'Creature From The Black Lagoon's Gill-man Was 93 Related Story Brett Radin Dies: Talent Manager With Knitting Factory Management Was 53
A prominent restaurant critic later in life, Weston’s show business career in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s was marked by such high points as producing Billy Wilder’s last film, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash with Carol Burnett and Alan Arkin, W.C. Fields...
- 3/3/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Joel Courtney and Crystal Reed have signed on to star in Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game for MPI Original Films.
The dramatic comedy produced by MPI is based on the true story of writer and pinball wizard Roger Sharpe, chronicling his journey to overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on pinball.
Austin and Meredith Bragg wrote and directed the film, which heads into production in October.
Stacey Parks, Lana Link, and Rob Pfaltzgraff will produce, with Nick Reid and Roger Sharpe on board as exec producers.
“Joel and Crystal bring so much remarkable talent and warmth to the project,” said The Bragg Brothers. “We’re thrilled to have them on board to bring Roger’s story to the screen.”
Courtney is currently in production on the Netflix film Players, starring alongside Damon Wayans Jr. and Gina Rodriguez. He...
The dramatic comedy produced by MPI is based on the true story of writer and pinball wizard Roger Sharpe, chronicling his journey to overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on pinball.
Austin and Meredith Bragg wrote and directed the film, which heads into production in October.
Stacey Parks, Lana Link, and Rob Pfaltzgraff will produce, with Nick Reid and Roger Sharpe on board as exec producers.
“Joel and Crystal bring so much remarkable talent and warmth to the project,” said The Bragg Brothers. “We’re thrilled to have them on board to bring Roger’s story to the screen.”
Courtney is currently in production on the Netflix film Players, starring alongside Damon Wayans Jr. and Gina Rodriguez. He...
- 7/28/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: George Segal and Elliot Gould in California Split (1974). Actor George Segal, a "defining face of 1970s Hollywood" known for his roles in films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Robert Altman's California Split, has died. The 2021 Jury and Special Award winners of the 28th SXSW Film Festival have been announced, with winners including Megan Park's The Fallout and Jeremy Workman's Lily Topples the World. Recommended VIEWINGFor the series A One-Woman Confessional: Eight Films by Cecilia Mangini, Another Gaze's streaming project Another Screen has also made available a video of Mangini and Agnès Varda's first meeting in 2011. Metrograph's official trailer for Claire Denis' L'Intrus, her 2004 adaptation of an essay by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy. The film will be available at the cimema's virtual theatre from March 26 to April 8. A fan-made...
- 3/28/2021
- MUBI
Illustration by Jeff CashvanMovie-lovers!We are thrilled to debut a collaboration between Mubi’s Notebook and The Deuce Film Series, our monthly event at Nitehawk Williamsburg that excavates the facts and fantasies of cinema's most infamous block in the world: 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. For each screening, my co-hosts and I pick a flick that we think embodies the era of all-night moviegoing down the “Glittering Gulch,” and present the theater at which it premiered. We think our little variety act is delicious fun... call us bawdy bon vivants.Back in 2015, we had the wonderful chance to thread and project the only known 35mm print in existence of Robert Butler’s Night of the Juggler (1980)—a memorable evening and a memorable film. Hence, we decided that this is the perfect title to get the ball rolling… Also at our monthly shindig: our 'famous' raffle, the grand prize...
- 3/23/2021
- MUBI
We’re kicking off September’s home media releases this week with a great group of titles that include cult classics, indie horror, and a handful of Shudder Originals. Vinegar Syndrome is showing some love this Tuesday to both The Eleventh Commandment and Larry Cohen’s Perfect Strangers, and for those of you who may have missed seeing them on the aforementioned Shudder, now you can catch up with Z, Blood Quantum, and Terrified on both Blu-ray and DVD.
Other home media releases for September 1st include Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest from Scream Factory, Limbo, Widow’s Point, and Beetlejuice in 4K.
Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest
A young family moves to a new apartment in the outskirts of the big city. The nanny they hired to look after their newborn daughter quickly becomes trustworthy. However, the eldest boy notices frightening behavior of the woman, but...
Other home media releases for September 1st include Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest from Scream Factory, Limbo, Widow’s Point, and Beetlejuice in 4K.
Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest
A young family moves to a new apartment in the outskirts of the big city. The nanny they hired to look after their newborn daughter quickly becomes trustworthy. However, the eldest boy notices frightening behavior of the woman, but...
- 8/31/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
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