Oscar Profile #356: Lester Persky

Born July 6, 1925, Lester Persky was an independent film producer who either co-financed or co-produced more than 30 films, many of them high profile successes, primarily between 1968 and 1979. The Harvey Weinstein of the 1970s, information on him remains as fragmented as his credits, which were parsed between The Devon Company, The Claridge Associates, Bright-Persky Associates, Persky-Bright Productions and various other entities.

Young Persky attended Brooklyn College, but his studies were interrupted by World War II when he spent two years as a merchant seaman. He then worked as a reporter trainee at The New York Times, but gave up a career in journalism to work for an advertising agency as a copywriter. This experience led him to establish his own advertising agency, which became hugely successful.

Financially secure, Persky who bore a canny resemblance to gap-toothed comedy Terry-Thomas, put his money where his heart was, producing films that indulged his fancy. A film buff at heart above everything, his philosophy was that the major studios never went broke putting all their money on one film, and neither did he. For every flop, he had two or more hits. He even bragged about saving $13,000 on the notorious 1976 Marlon Brando-Jack Nicholson flop, The Missouri Breaks because Brando didn’t “act up” as much as it was thought he would.

Among the films he produced were Boom! , Fortune and Men’s Eyes, California Split, For Pete’s Sake, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, The Last Detail, Crazy Joe, The Wind and the Lion, Hard Times, Bite the Bullet, The Killer Elite, Funny Lady, Shampoo, The Man Who Would Be King, Operation: Daybreak, Harry and Walter Go to New York, From Noon Till Three, Gator, Taxi Driver, The Missouri Breaks, The Front, Bound for Glory, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Valentino, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Equus, Hair and Yanks. Only the first two and the last three bore his name as producer.

He also acted under the pseudonym J.P. Lester in Paul Morrissey’s 1972 film, Heat.

Less active on TV, he nevertheless did produce such works as the 1976 TV remake of The Entertainer starring Jack Lemmon in Laurence Olivier’s old role; 1987’s Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story starring Farrah Fawcett; 1991’s A Woman Named Jackie starring Roma Downey as Jackie Kennedy for which he won an Emmy for Outstanding Mini-series and 1995’s Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story starring Sherilyn Fenn.

Lester Persky died December 16, 2001 at the age of 76. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by four nieces.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE LAST DETAIL (1973), directed by Hal Ashby

Persky was especially proud of having rescued Ashby’s film, which sat on the shelves at Columbia for six months before Bright-Persky Associates became involved. The film was nominated for three Oscars including Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Supporting Actor (Randy Quaid) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Towne). Bright-Persky Associates also had Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in the running for two Oscars, Best Actress (Joanne Woodward) and Best Supporting Actress (Sylvia Sidney). They would later produce Ashby’s Shampoo and Bound for Glory.

THE MISSOURI BREAKS (1976), directed by Arthur Penn

One of the biggest flops in the careers of practically everyone connected with it from director Penn to stars Marlon Brando and Jack Nicolson, as well as Persky, who recouped his losses on this stinker of a western with such other 1976 releases as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Woody Allen’s The Front and Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory. He took it in his stride, even telling the New York Times in September 1976 that he expected the May release to eventually earn $30,000,000 at the box-office. Its final take was $14,000,000, far short of expectations.

EQUUS (1977), directed by Sidney Lumet

Early in his career, Persky was a producer in his own name on Boom! , Jospeh Losey’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and Harvey Hart’s film of John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes. His production of Sidney Lumet’s adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s Equus with Boom! star Richard Burton in the role that earned him the seventh and final Oscar nomination of his career, was the first film that Persky personally produced in six years. He would later produce a Burton-Liz Taylor TV mini-series.

HAIR (1979), directed by Milos Forman

Persky’s only musical venture was Forman’s adaptation of the legendary James Rado – Gerome Ragni – Galt McDermot rock musical that took Broadway by storm ten years earlier. As one of the film’s producers, this was probably as close as Persky himself ever got to the Oscars. The film was nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, but Oscar ignored the film from former (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and future Amadeus Oscar winner Forman. That was a pity as the film deserved nods in several categories including Best Actor (Treat Williams).

YANKS (1979), directed by John Schlesinger

Three of the five films that Persky personally produced were British co-productions – Boom! , Equus and this film about the Americans in Britain toward the end of World War II. The film, which starred Richard Gere, Lisa Eichhorn, Vanessa Redgrave, William Devane and Rachel Roberts, received two Golden Globe nominations, both of which were for Eichhorn, one for Best Actress and another for Best Newcomer. This, however, would be Persky’s last theatrical film. Afterward, he would turn his attention to the small screen, where he would produce occasional mini-series through 1995.