Biography

One half of the production team, "Brillstein-Grey Productions". His partner is Brad Grey.

Had daughter Leigh Brillstein with his first wife. Had son Michael Brillstein and daughter Kate Brillstein with his second wife, Deborah. Sons David Koskoff and Nick Koskoff are Deborah's children from a former marriage. Has a grandson, Alden.

Began his career in the mail-room at the William Morris agency.

Born in Manhattan to Moe and Tillie Brillstein. Growing up, his family lived with his uncle, Ziegfield Follies star Jack Pearl.

Received a degree in advertising from New York University.

I'm proud of my career and everything we've done, and I'm known for a lot of things including having my foot in the door for movies. But mainly I've been known as a guy with an eye for talent. I mean, this company, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, it has such a depth of talent, not only in our clients, but in the team here. So we have this great entrée and we seem to see every script. In all honesty we've done well in television, so movies have always been like a luxury for us.

Now that's classic agenting. We got a dead person a $250-a-week raise. I knew I was in the right business. (from his 1999 memoir "Where Did I Go Right? -- You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead", describing a Broadway musical contract he helped negotiate for an actress, only to discover that she had been dead for four years)

When David Brown started being David Brown, he went out and found all these great properties and I ended up doing Neighbors (1981) with he and Richard D. Zanuck, and they were such gentlemen. These guys cared about the movies. They came from different stock, a different class these guys were. They were just people who loved the business and had Honor.

On getting offered the role of Studio Chief in 1988: I'd do half the day there, then the other half here...so maybe I never really left...

When I first came to town in 1967, none of the other established Hollywood agencies really cared I existed, then we became solid competition and they began threatening me saying they'd go to Sacramento and claim I was selling people, which a manager is not supposed to do, so I said: 'fine, you want to make accusations in Sacramento... I'll tell them how you guys steal money on the package agreements'... Well, that shut them up and they left me alone.