"Karate Kid," "Oceans 11" Producer, Jerry Weintraub, Dies

Film producer Jerry Weintraub, whose credits include “Diner,” “The Karate Kid” and the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies, died today in Palm Springs at age 77.

TMZ and Variety both reported that Weintraub had been in failing health recently and was staying with family in the Palm Springs area.

The New York native originally worked as a talent manager, representing stars such as Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and John Denver.

“To my great sorrow, my friend and former producer Jerry Weintraub has died suddenly,” director William Friedkin wrote on his Twitter page. “He was loved and admired. God bless him.”

Friedkin directed the 1980 Al Pacino crime drama “Cruising,” which Weintraub produced.

Weintraub’s other producing credits include “Oh, God!,” “Nashville,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Pure Country,” “The Specialist,” “Vegas Vacation” and 1998’s “The Avengers.”

He briefly led United Artists, but left to lead his own production house, known as Weintraub Entertainment Group, before eventually landing at Warner Bros.

He shared an Emmy Award for co-producing the climate-change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously,” and shared another as a co-producer of HBO’s Liberace drama “Behind the Candelabra.” He also won an Emmy in 1975 for co-producing the musical special “An Evening with John Denver.”

He was an executive producer on the HBO limited-run series “The Brink.”

--City News Service