Frank Mancuso Sr. Dead: Former Chairman of Paramount, MGM Was 93

Frank Mancuso Sr., who rose from jobs as a theater usher and film buyer in Buffalo, New York, to become the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and then MGM, has died. He was 93.

Mancuso died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles of complications from cancer.

Survivors include his son, Frank Mancuso Jr., who, while often working for his father, produced five Friday the 13th films as well as Species (1995), John Frankenheimer’s Ronin (1998) and Stigmata (1999).

The elder Mancuso, who spent nearly three decades with Paramount, was the rare studio chieftain to have come from the ranks of marketers.

He was serving a 20-month stint as president of Paramount’s motion picture group when Martin Davis, chairman and CEO of parent conglomerate Gulf & Western, selected him over Michael Eisner to take over the flagging studio in September 1984.

Mancuso replaced Barry Diller, who had abruptly left to assume control of 20th Century Fox. Eisner, Diller’s second in command, departed for Disney when he didn’t get promoted, and he was soon followed out the door by another rising young executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Mancuso, however, hired former Universal exec Ned Tanen to serve as president of production, re-signed Eddie Murphy to a lucrative contract and struck a long-term deal with producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.

Paramount adopted a tentpole philosophy and finished first at the box office in 1986 and ’87, finding success with Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Golden Child, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Children of a Lesser God in 1986 — when it had a 22 percent domestic market share —and Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Untouchables and Eddie Murphy Raw in 1987. (Other hits like 1988’s Coming to America, 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and 1990’s Ghost followed.)

On the television side, the studio launched The Arsenio Hall Show, Entertainment Tonight, Cheers, Family Ties and Star Trek: The Next Generation under his watch.

In the wake of the expensive 1990 sequel misfires as The Two Jakes and The Godfather Part III, Davis gave Mancuso a new boss, producer Stanley R. Jaffe, who was installed as COO of Paramount Communications. Mancuso exited in March 1991 and filed a $45 million breach of contract lawsuit, eventually receiving a reported $20 million in a settlement.

After a couple years away, Mancuso returned to Hollywood in July 1993 when, in a deal orchestrated by CAA’s Michael Ovitz, he was named by Credit Lyonnais-owned MGM to replace Alan Ladd Jr. as chairman and CEO.

During his tenure, he restarted United Artists (it hadn’t released a film since Rocky Vin 1990) and hired former Warner Bros. exec John Calley to run it; acquired Orion Pictures, The Samuel Goldwyn Co. and assets from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment; and saw the release of such films as Stargate (1994), Get Shorty (1995), The Birdcage (1996) and three James Bond movies.

Mancuso lasted until April 1999, when MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian replaced him with Alex Yemenidjian as chairman and Chris McGurk as vice chairman.

He was born on July 25, 1933, in Buffalo. His father, George, worked for the post office for more than four decades.

Mancuso started out as a part-time usher at the 3,500-seat Lafayette Theatre, then was named assistant manager while still a student at the State University of New York at Buffalo. After college, he was hired in 1958 to buy films for the Basil Circuit, which owned the Lafayette and 49 other theaters in Western New York and Pennsylvania.

In 1962, Mancuso joined Paramount as a film booker in its Buffalo office, and he rose through the ranks, becoming the Toronto-based vice president and general sales manager for Paramount Canada in 1970; manager of Paramount’s Western Division, based in Los Angeles, in 1976; and executive vice president of marketing and distribution for the entire company in 1979.

He was named president of the motion picture group in January 1983 — that was his first job being involved in the production of movies — and distinguished himself by using music videos to promote Flashdance and giving eventual best-picture winner Terms of Endearment a release during the then-sleepy Thanksgiving weekend.

In recent years, Mancuso held chairman posts at the Motion Picture & Television Fund and at the Geffen Playhouse.

He also is survived by his wife, Fay, whom he married in 1957 — they first met when they were 12 — and their daughter Maria, a fashion designer.