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Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar (March 28, 1907 – December 30, 1993) was a legendary agent and deal-maker for Hollywood movie stars and authors. Born Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from the Brooklyn Law School of St. Lawrence University in 1931.
While practicing bankruptcy law during the early 1930s, he negotiated a business deal for a vaudeville performer and realized the income potential for acting as an agent. He moved to Hollywood in 1936 but maintained a presence in New York until after World War II when he moved to Los Angeles permanently. After putting together three major deals for Humphrey Bogart in a single day, he was dubbed "Swifty" by Bogart. The moniker stuck but was a name he actually disliked.
In addition to Bogart, Lazar became the agent representing the top tier of celebrities, including Lauren Bacall, Truman Capote, Cher, Joan Collins, Noel Coward, Ira Gershwin, Cary Grant, Moss Hart, Ernest Hemingway, Gene Kelly, Jessica Lange, Madonna, Walter Matthau, Larry McMurtry, Vladimir Nabokov, Clifford Odets, Gregory Peck, Cole Porter, William Saroyan, Irwin Shaw, Sharon Stone and Tennessee Williams. Lazar's power became such that he could negotiate a deal for someone who was not even his client and then collect a fee from that person's agent.
Lazar was an executive producer (with Bernie Brillstein) of John G. Avildsen's Neighbors (1981), starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and he was an associate producer on two TV miniseries, The Thorn Birds (1983) and Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985). He was renowned for his annual post-Academy Award parties that started at the famous Romanoff's, then moved to the Bistro Garden and finally to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Spago. His was the most important Oscar celebration, and those who received invitations were regarded as the inner circle.
Lazar died of cancer in 1993 and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Michael Korda wrote a 1993 New Yorker profile of Lazar, later incorporated into Korda's book, Another Life: A Memoir of Other People (Random House, 1999). At the time of his death, Lazar was working on his autobiography, Swifty: My Life and Good Times, which was completed by Annette Tapert and published by Simon & Schuster in 1995.
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1907 births | 1993 deaths | American lawyers | American television producers | People from Brooklyn | Talent agents
"Irving Paul Lazar"