Famed talent manager and producer Bernie Brillstein passed away last Sunday of pulmonary disease at the age of 77. A hugely influential member of the Hollywood elite, Brillstein is responsible for some of the most pop-culture defining movies and television shows in the last 30 years. In 1975 Brillstein played a key role in getting both Saturday Night Live and The Muppet Show on the air, both revolutionary shows that helped shape television for years to come. It was Brillstein’s SNL connection, though, which would change the course of his career. He saw the potential in Dan Aykroyd and the enigmatic force of nature that was John Belushi and represented them as they took the step from television stars to fully-fledged movie stars, eventually seeing his clients have the number one television show in the country along with the number one album and number one movie simultaneously. Brillstein, who worked his way to the top of the industry all the way from mailroom clerk to talent representative and film producer, had a reputation as being of the last “nice guys” in the industry. Your writer will forever indebted to him for his efforts to bring Ghostbusters (AKA the best film ever made) to the big screen after being stuck in development hell for a time.
