Hollywood producer and manager Jerry Weintraub, the driving force behind such films as Karate Kid, Nashville and Ocean’s Eleven, has died in California aged 77.

Weintraub, the former chairman and CEO of United Artists, who also promoted concerts for Elvis Presley and John Denver, died on Monday in Santa Barbara of cardiac arrest, his publicist confirmed.

The Brooklyn-born son of a gem trader, Weintraub rose from the mailroom of the William Morris talent agency to become a top concert promoter before shifting into a second career as a Hollywood producer.

Building a show business empire on a Rolodex and chutzpah, Weintraub worked with the famous stars of every era — from Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan to George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

“In the coming days there will be tributes about our friend Jerry Weintraub,” said Clooney, who starred in the Ocean’s movies, on Monday. “We’ll laugh at his great stories and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come, the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it.”

Weintraub poses in his office in Los Angeles in 1983. Photograph: Nick Ut/AP

One of the Republican party’s most loyal supporters in Hollywood, Weintraub was a close friend of President George Bush senior, for whom he threw a star-studded party at his Malibu home in 1981, and a golf buddy of President Ronald Reagan.

“Jerry was an American original who earned his success by the sheer force of his instinct, drive, and larger-than-life personality,” said Bush at news of Weintraub’s death. “He had a passion for life, and throughout the ups and downs of his prolific career, it was clear just how much he loved show-business.”

A self-made man, Weintraub fashioned himself in the mould of old Hollywood showman like Mike Todd, Cecil B DeMille and PT Barnum. He had his favourite LA lunch spots, a desert home in Palm Springs and moored his yacht off the French Riviera.

His career as a music promoter took a giant step in 1970 when, after a lengthy courtship, he persuaded Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to let him promote Presley’s concerts after the singer has been focusing on film work.

Weintraub titled his 2011 memoir, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead, and joked that he might write another with the title Dead, But Still Talking.

Weintraub’s most recent success was Behind The Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 drama about the life of flamboyant pianist, Liberace, played by Michael Douglas. After the big studios passed on the project, Weintraub took it to HBO, where it won 11 Emmys. Rob Lowe, who also starred in the film, called Weintraub “the ultimate producer” in a Twitter tribute.

So sad and shocked that a creative spirit like Jerry Weintraub's could EVER be silenced. He was the ultimate producer. #BehindTheCandelabra — Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) July 7, 2015

Weintraub left numerous projects behind, including the recently debuted HBO series, The Brink, with Jack Black, and an upcoming big-budget remake of Tarzan.

“If asked my philosophy, it would be simply this: Savour life, don’t press too hard, don’t worry too much. Or as the old-timers say, ‘Enjoy,’” he wrote in his book.

“[But] I never could live by this philosophy and was, in fact, out working, hustling, trading, scheming, and making a buck as soon as I was old enough to leave my parents’ house.”



