Biography

Ray Stark

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Overview

Born
October 3, 1915 · New York City, New York, USA
Died
January 17, 2004 · West Hollywood, California, USA (heart failure)
Birth name
Raymond Otto Stark

Biography

Soon after World War II, he started selling Red Ryder radio scripts, written by his Shakespeare professor at Rutgers university. He was soon handling literary talent ,such as Raymond Chandler and Ben Hecht. He later joined Famous Artists Agency, representing Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Richard Burton and many others. He resigned in 1957 to form Seven Arts Productions with Elliot Hyman and supervised over 50 films, including 'Night of the Iguana' and 'Reflections in a Golden Eye'. In 1966, he formed Rastar Productions to produce film versions of Broadway plays, such as 'Funny Girl', which won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, 'The Way We Were', 'Sunshine Boys', 'California Suite' and 'Robin and Marion'.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

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Trivia

In 1977, when Cliff Robertson began an investigation into financial discrepancies regarding Columbia Pictures' dealings with him that revealed Columbia president David Begelman had forged checks made out to Robertson, Stark warned him that if he pressed ahead with his investigation, Begelman would commit suicide. Robertson said he would do "what a citizen should do in this situation." Begelman was sacked from Columbia but his eventual suicide many years later wasn't connected with the incident. Stark made sure Robertson was blacklisted. The story is detailed in David McClintick's book, "Indecent Exposure.".
While putting together "Funny Girl," its producer, David Merrick, took Stark and his wife to see an unknown singer perform at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village. At first the Starks balked at using Barbra Streisand, but settled for her when they couldn't get Eydie Gormé or Carol Burnett and their initial choice, Anne Bancroft, pulled out. Known for his Machiavellian ways, Stark forced Streisand to sign a four-picture deal with his Rastar Productions to play Brice in Funny Girl (1968). They also collaborated on The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), The Way We Were (1973) and Funny Lady (1975). But there was obvious bitterness--after "Funny Lady" wrapped, Streisand sent Stark an antique mirror on which she had written in lipstick, "Paid in full.".
The producer of the original Broadway production of "Funny Girl" (1964), the film Funny Girl (1968) and its sequel, Funny Lady (1975). In real life, he is the son-in-law of Fanny Brice, the famous "Ziegfeld Follies" entertainer whose life is depicted in those three shows.
The production company he founded in the 1960s was appropriately named: Rastar - Ra(y)star(k).
He once acted as Raymond Chandler's agent.