R.I.P. Marion Dougherty

Marion Dougherty, a classic Bergdorf-Goodman window dresser who rose being among Hollywood’s most influential casting company company directors, died December 4 in Manhattan of natural causes. She was 88. Once referred to as “the father of casting to be sure it” by Paul Newman, Dougherty was responsible for giving Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Erection dysfunction Asner, Anne Bancroft, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken as well as other others their first breaks. She also was instrumental at the begining of careers of James Dean and Robert Duvall. Dougherty became a member of the organization casting the tv series Kraft Television Theater, Naked City and Route 66 through the late 19 forties and to the early sixties. In individuals days, the conclusion in the studio system meant stars were free agents being discovered in regional theaters, off-Broadway at local playhouses, as well as the demands of TV meant they have to be situated fast. She eventually moved into film casting,where she totally transformed the process by departing type-casting and toward character and individuality. Her movie credits include casting Pacino in Stress In Needle Park, Redford in Butch Cassidy As Well As The Sundance Kid, Voight and Hoffman in Evening time Cowboy, too asThe Owl As Well As The Pussycat, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Paper Chase, Lenny, Your Entire Day In The Locust, The Earth According To Garp, Full Metal Jacket, Tim Burton’s Batman, as well as the four Lethal Weapon movies. Her latest movie credit was 2001′s Venus And Mars.”I think she’s one of the key figures moving picture history she was the Mozart of casting,” mentioned Tom Donahue, who's making the documentaryCasting By, in regards to the evolution in the casting industry which Dougherty will be a central figure. In 1965, Dougherty setup her company, Marion Dougherty Affiliate marketers, in the NY brownstone nicknamed The Brothel on 30th Street because her employees were women. (She hired future casting company company directors Juliet Taylor, Amanda Mackey, Nessa Hyams, Phyllis Huffman and Wally Nicita.) She wasbrought to Hollywood by former United states . Artists leader David Picker, and he or she eventually labored at Vital and Warner Bros, where she was named mind of casting in 1979. Round the West Coast, her discoveries includedGlenn Close, Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Matthew McConaughey, Brooke Shields, Debra Winger and Woodsy Harrelson. Among her many achievements: suggesting to Norman Lear that Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton play Archie and Edith on Lear’spilot for just about any new series calledAll Inherited convincing Richard Donner to cast Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon even though his part was written for just about any white-colored male and casting Robin Williams in Garp, his first dramatic role. There's a push in 1991 to acquire Dougherty the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar — using the type of Warner Bros’ Mark Rosenberg, Paula Weinstein, Newman, Woodsy Allen and Sydney Pollack behind the campaign — but that lobbying effort not successful.