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Shocker: Media Exec Brad Grey, Longtime Head of Paramount Pictures, Dead at 59

May 15, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Veteran producer, manager and studio head Brad Grey, who just stepped down in February following a 12-year run as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, has died.

TheWrap reports that Grey’s family said in a statement this morning that Grey “passed away yesterday evening at his home in Holmby Hills, CA with his family by his side. The cause of death was cancer.” Grey was 59.

Grey reportedly remained a part of official business at Paramount as he helped the company with the transition following his exit. At the time he stepped down he said he would “look forward to new adventures.”

Before he took the Paramount job, Grey co-founded Brillstein-Grey Entertainment with Bernie Brillstein and co-founded Plan B Entertainment with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.

“Grey, a prolific producer and former talent manager, is responsible for shepherding franchises like ‘Transformers,’ ‘Mission: Impossible,’ ‘Paranormal Activity’ and the planned expansion of the ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ films from J.J. Abrams,” TheWrap notes. “His prestige hits include ‘Babel,’ ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ ‘The Big Short,’ ‘Selma’ and many more. As a producer, his film ‘The Departed’ won the Academy Award for Best Picture.”

Writing on Deadline.com, Mike Fleming Jr. notes: “Grey was a larger than life figure in Hollywood’s ranks with a talent for deal making and working with stars he brought into the Paramount fold like ‘World War Z’ star and producer Brad Pitt. He surprised many back in 2005 when he accepted the job offered by Sumner Redstone, to take the reins of Paramount Pictures as chairman/CEO.”

Fleming notes that at Brillstein-Grey, Grey was executive producer on a number of seminal shows, including “The Sopranos,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Real Time With Bill Maher” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”

Here’s a clip posted by TMZ featuring a street interview with Grey back in 2015 …

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