Mogul who discovered Spielberg
Sidney Sheinberg Hollywood Executive BORN, JANUARY 14, 1935 DIED, MARCH 2, 2019, AGED 84
SIDNEY Sheinberg is credited with discovering the talents of an up-andcoming director, Steven Spielberg, in a career which made him one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.
After seeing a film shot by a 20-year-old Spielberg about two hippies, he signed him up to a seven-year contract, saying: “A lot of people will stick with you in success. I’ll stick with you in failure.”
As president of MCA, the parent company of Universal Television, Sheinberg was impressed with his prodigy’s first feature-length film, The Sugarland Express, starring Goldie Hawn. The following year, 1975, Spielberg became a globally recognised directorial star when he released Jaws.
Sidney Jay Sheinberg was born in Texas to Polish immigrant father Harry and Ukrainian mother Tillie, who ran a store together.
At school he was a keen violin player but went on to study law at Columbia University. While sheltering from a hurricane in 1954, he met Lorraine Gottfried
(also known as Lorraine Gary) and they married two years later.
He went on to teach law at the University of California in Los Angeles but by the late 1950s was hired by the legal department of Revue Productions, which became Universal Television in 1970.
At 6ft 2in tall and with an imposing presence, he savoured litigation while at the same time being intrigued and inspired by the movie industry. When he tried to stop Sony exporting its video recorders into the US, it went to the Supreme Court and he lost.
With Sheinberg at the helm, Universal released the three highest grossing films of the last 30 years of the last century, Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, a massive hit in 1993.
He is also credited with Back To The Future, which he wanted to call Space Man From Pluto and Schindler’s List. Spielberg said of him: “For the rest of my life I will owe him more than I can express.”
Sheinberg also led the Universal Music Group’s takeover of Motown Records in 1988 and Geffen Records two years later. His feud with Terry Gilliam over the final cut of his film Brazil had so many twists and turns a book was written about it as well as a documentary, The Battle Of Brazil.
Lorraine, who played Ellen Brody in Jaws, survives him along with their sons Jonathan, a film producer and director, and Bill, who works in the film industry.