Susi Mengers (September 2, 1932[4] – October 15, 2011) was a talent agent for many filmmakers and actors of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.[5]
Early life
Mengers was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of George and Ruth Mengers (née Levy).[5][6][7] Several years of birth have been published,[8][9][10][verification needed][11] and while she was living, reporters stated "she won't say just when" she was born.[12] In 1938, she arrived at age five in New York with her parents on the ship S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp.[13][verification needed][14]: 39 Neither of her parents spoke English at the time.[15] Settling in Utica, New York, her father became a traveling salesman.[16] After her father's suicide in a Times Square hotel, she relocated to the Bronx with her mother, who took a job as a bookkeeper.[14]: 40
Career
Mengers, at 17,[17] she answered an MCA ad for "receptionist, theatrical agency" and entered the talent agency business in 1955 as a receptionist.[5] She also worked for a while as a secretary for freelance theatrical agency Baum & Newborn. Eventually, she was hired as a secretary at the William Morris Agency, a powerhouse in the emerging television industry,[14]: 41 where she remained until 1963, when a former Baum & Newborn colleague, Tom Korman, formed his own agency and hired her as a talent agent.[14]: 42
I was a little pisher, a little nothing making $135 a week as a secretary for the William Morris Agency in New York. Well, I looked around and I admired the Morris office and their executives, and I thought: “Gee, what they do isn’t that hard, you know.” And I like the way they live, and I like those expense accounts, and I like the cars. And I used to stay late at the office, just like “All About Eve,” and I suddenly thought: “That beats typing.”[17]
Her first big addition to her books was actress Julie Harris, who was primarily a stage performer. To Mengers' surprise, Harris wanted to appear on an episode of Bonanza. Mengers contacted the producer, who commissioned a specially written episode for Harris.[14]: 43 Mengers represented Anthony Perkins, who had not worked in the United States since Psycho (1960). She contacted producer Ray Stark and obtained for Perkins a role in director René Clément's film Is Paris Burning? (1966).[14]: 43
On 1 August 1986, she retired from International Creative Management (ICM) when her contract expired[17] and returned to the William Morris Agency for a brief period from 1988-90.[citation needed]
Shortly after the Manson family Tate–LaBianca murders, Mengers reportedly reassured Streisand: "Don't worry, honey, stars aren't being murdered. Only featured players."[15][17]
In 1988, after retiring from the talent agency business, for nearly 20 years, Mengers held A-List Hollywood evening salons of 8-12 people, and more free-flowing and gossipy lunch parties that were open only to women, that included Jack Nicholson, Anjelica Huston, David Geffen, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey, Diane Keaton, Jimmy Fallon, Gore Vidal, Elton John, Ryan Phillippe, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Neil Diamond, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Princess Margaret, Bill Maher, Martin Short, Graydon Carter, Tim Robbins, Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, Nora Ephron, Kelly Lynch, Fran Lebowitz, Tom Hooper, Angie Dickinson, Sidney Poitier, Billy Wilder, Robert Downey Jr., Alex Witchel, Alessandra Stanley, Barbra Streisand, Ali MacGraw, Joanna Poitier, Boaty Boatwright, Bette Midler, Sting (musician), Trudie Styler, Barry Diller, Sherry Lansing, William Friedkin, David Semel, Bryan Lourd, Richard D. Zanuck, Mel Brooks.[21][22][23]
Her parties in her agenting days included Lauren Hutton, Paul Schrader, Mike Nichols, Ann-Margret.[23]
Mengers introduced Barry Diller to Diane von Furstenberg.[22]
She was with an ever-present joint in her hand ("I used to bring her pot" - Bill Maher[21]).[22]
Death
Mengers died on Saturday, October 15, 2011, from pneumonia, "after a number of small strokes, and a lifetime of illnesses"[22] at her home in Beverly Hills, California, "surrounded by three of her close friends, Ali MacGraw, Joanna Poitier, and Boaty Boatwright",[22] at age 79. Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter posted a written tribute the following morning.[22]
Mengers expressed disapproval when she thought the character Shelley Winters portrayed in the Blake Edwards' film S.O.B. (1981), was based on her. She publicly stated that "An Alp should fall on their house."[24][verification needed]
In the Barbara Walters autobiography Audition: A Memoir (2008), she describes Mengers as "a legend in the business. Smart, tough, and funny, she is also brutally honest."[26]
^According to the U.S. 1940 census, Mengers was born
Susi Mangars and her age is given as 7 in April 1940, which would correspond to 1932 as her year of birth Estimated Birth Year: abt 1933 Gender: Female Race: White Birthplace: Germany Marital Status: Single Relation to Head of House: Daughter Home in 1940: Utica, Oneida, New York Street: Stueben Street Inferred Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany Residence in 1935: Hamburg, Germany Citizenship: Alien Sheet Number: 8A Household Members:
Name Age
George Mangars 33
Ruth Mangars 31
Susi Mangars 7
^The New York Daily News obituary (p. 24, October 17, 2011: "Mengers claimed to be 78 [sic], but she was believed to be 81.") indicates Mengers may have been born as early as 1930.
^Sue Mengers 1938-. Contemporary Newsmakers (Report). Gale Research Co. 1985. ISBN978-0-8103-2201-1.
^McBride, Joseph (1983). Filmmakers on filmmaking: The American Film Institute seminars on motion pictures and television, Volume 1.. J.P. Tarcher. ISBN978-0-87477-266-1. Born in Germany in the mid-1930s, she left with her parents in 1939 and settled in the Bronx.
^Rosenfield, Paul (July 26, 1987). "Power players: Hollywood's Love-Hate Relationship With Agents". Los Angeles Times.
^Biskind, Peter (2004). Gods and monsters: Thirty years of writing on film and culture from one of America's most incisive writers. Nation Books. ISBN978-1-56025-545-1.
^"United States INS - Port of New York - Manifest of Alien Passengers aboard the S.S. Koenigstein from Antwerp" (Document). United States INS. August 13, 1938.
^ abcdefghiAbramowitz, Rachel (2000). Is That a Gun In Your Pocket? Women's Experience of Power in Hollywood (hardcover ed.). New York: Random House.
