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Zack Norman

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Zack Norman
Norman at the 2012 Palm Beach International Film Festival
Born
Howard Jerrold Zuker

(1940-05-27)May 27, 1940
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedApril 28, 2024(2024-04-28) (aged 83)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Alma materVanderbilt University, Harvard Business School
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian, film producer, art collector

Howard Jerrold Zuker (May 27, 1940 – April 28, 2024), known professionally as Zack Norman, was an American actor, comedian, film producer, and art collector. Norman is best known for his acting role as the cousin of Danny DeVito's character in 20th Century Fox's Romancing the Stone (1984).[1] As an art collector, he sold a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece for a then record-breaking $110.5 million in 2017.

Legit theatre and stand-up comedy

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Born in Boston on May 27, 1940, and raised in nearby Revere, by the age of 25 Norman was on the board of directors of a Massachusetts bank.

Norman began performing as a stand-up comedian in strip joints and nightclubs while producing his first Off-Broadway play, the New York premiere of John Arden's Live Like Pigs,[2] which opened on June 7, 1965. In 1966, he left for Europe to work the U.S. Army base circuit operating out of Frankfurt, Germany, playing army clubs throughout Western Europe. On June 7, 1967, Norman opened at the Playboy Club in London, England, where Variety wrote he was "hysterical... one of the funniest guys ever to cross these shores".[3] Soon he was appearing in every Playboy Club on their 18-venue circuit, as well as appearing in hotels and nightclubs such as The Flamingo in Las Vegas and New York's Copacabana with the Temptations. Norman made his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on April 28, 1969.[4] As a stage actor, he starred in more than 20 plays. His performance in the title role of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Connecticut (1980) was locally acclaimed.[5]

Motion pictures

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In May 1969, Norman traveled to the Cannes International Film Festival in France to put deals together for movie projects. As Howard Zuker, he had developed a film fund financed by a group of Boston real estate investors based on tax ramifications related to the real estate business, i.e. amortization and depreciation, which could be translated into tax incentives for motion picture investment.[6] Norman applied these to his fund, formed Gemini Pictures International, with himself as president.[7] The company's first release was the Italian-made Which Way Do You Dig? (also known as Dark of the Day; And the Bombs Keep Falling, and I Cannoni Tuonano Ancora), in which he also co-starred alongside spaghetti western actor Robert Woods.[8] Over the course of his career, Norman would go on to act in and produce scores of movies, raising in excess of $100,000,000 for motion picture production, most notably with French producer Henry Lange, with whom he made over a dozen films[9]— including the 1971 vampire lesbian cult hit, Daughters of Darkness—and with Bert Schneider: Hearts And Minds (Warner Bros., 1974), The Gentleman Tramp (1976), and Paramount's 1977 Tracks, directed by Henry Jaglom who would become Norman's most frequent moviemaking partner.[10][11] As producer and actor, Norman collaborated with Jaglom on Sitting Ducks (1980),[12] Venice, Venice (1992),[13] Babyfever (1994),[14] Hollywood Dreams (2005),[15] Irene in Time (2009),[16] Queen of the Lot (2010),[17] and Festival in Cannes (2001),[18] for which Norman received favorable reviews.[19]

In 1998, Norman acquired the catalog of the American Play Company (founded 1889) for himself and actor-producer Michael Douglas for their newly formed joint venture, the American Entertainment Holding Company (AEHC),[20] which controlled the rights to thousands of plays and manuscripts by such authors as John Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams, George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Oscar Wilde, A.A. Milne, and Maurine Dallas Watkins. In 2008, Norman initiated a lawsuit against Douglas; the two settled out of court, dissolving the partnership.[21][22]

In 2006, Variety's Elizabeth Guider wrote of Norman: "There are people through the decades who become regular fixtures in the pages of Variety—everyone from Al Jolson to Jimmy Durante to Michael Ovitz to Harvey Weinstein. But no one's presence has been as constant as that of Zack Norman." The reason for this, she wrote, is that in the 1980s he regularly bought ads promoting himself on page 6 of the newspaper.[23]

He appeared in Ragtime (1981) and Cadillac Man (1990).[24] He was also seen as Kaz Naiman in Paramount Classics' Festival in Cannes (2001).[18]

In 1986, Norman co-wrote and co-produced Chief Zabu which was also his directing debut. He appears in the film as a real estate mogul.[25] The film was not completed for release until 30 years later. It was panned by critics who found it "uneven" and "ineptly produced".[26][27][28]

Norman's E.N.T.E.R. won Best Comedy in October 2018 at the first Cutting Room International Short Film Festival in NYC.[29] As a painter, he is known as Zack Zuker, having done his first painting in New York City in 1976. He made his television debut in 1953 at the age of twelve on WBZ-TV Boston's Community Auditions talent show as a drummer with his band, Howie Zuker and His Music Makers. Subsequently he guest-starred in such popular series as The A-Team (1985) and Baywatch (1993), had a recurring role on The Nanny (1993–1995)[30] and was featured in several TV movies including At Home with the Webbers (1993).[31] As Howard Zuker, he produced more than forty motion pictures, including Hearts and Minds (1974),[32] which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[33]

Fine art collector

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Norman was an art collector, counting among his acquisitions five pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose “Untitled” sold in May 2017 at Sotheby's New York for $110.5 million, setting the then record price for an American artist at auction.[34] In 1982, Norman purchased “Hannibal” from Basquiat in the artist's studio for $3200. That piece sold on October 9, 2016, at Sotheby's London for £10.6 million.[35]

Death

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Norman died from bilateral pneumonia related to COVID-19 on April 28, 2024, in Burbank, California, at the age of 83.[36][37]

Filmography

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Film acting

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Television acting

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References

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  1. ^ "Romancing-the-Stone - Cast, Crew, Director and Awards - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  2. ^ "Lortel Archives-The Internet Off-Broadway Database". Lortel.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  3. ^ "Variety Magazine Archives | Hollywood History - Variety Ultimate". varietyultimate.com. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  4. ^ "Facts/History/Trivia/Music - Year in Review Video Timeline - 1955 Through 2013".
  5. ^ "Brecht Play a Vital Tour De Force", Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Section B, page 5, Thursday, May 29, 1980
  6. ^ Sloane, Leonard (November 22, 1970). "New Backers for Movies – Business, not 'Going Hollywood', is their Motive" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  7. ^ Adams, Marjory (January 18, 1970). "Brookline actor forms own film company". Boston Globe. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  8. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | I CANNONI TUONANO ANCORA (1969)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. April 16, 2009. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  9. ^ Variety Staff (October 30, 2002). "Henry Lange". Variety. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  10. ^ "Tracks". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  11. ^ "Zack Norman Interview by Henry Jaglom".
  12. ^ Canby, Vincent (April 4, 1980). "Screen: An Engaging 'Sitting Ducks':A Caper by Amateurs". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  13. ^ Maslin, Janet (October 28, 1992). "A Tale of Two Cities In a Movie Maker's Life". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  14. ^ Maslin, Janet (May 4, 1994). "Review/Film; A Bunch Of Women Discussing Motherhood". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  15. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (May 25, 2007). "Movie Memories and Gender Confusion". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  16. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (September 22, 2009). "A Foray Into Female Obsessions". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  17. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (December 2, 2010). "'Queen of the Lot,' a Henry Jaglom Sequel – Review". The New York Times.
  18. ^ a b "Festival-in-Cannes - Cast, Crew, Director and Awards - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  19. ^ Foundas, Scott (November 2, 2001). "Festival in Cannes". Variety. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  20. ^ "AEHC Business Summary". Businessweek.com. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  21. ^ "Michael Douglas sued by Zack Norman". Thebosh.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  22. ^ "EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTS: Michael Douglas Sued For Fraud By Former Business Partner". radaronline.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  23. ^ Guider, Elizabeth (February 5, 2006). "Aspiring thesp turned cash into quirky cachet". Variety. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  24. ^ "Cadillac-Man - Cast, Crew, Director and Awards - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  25. ^ Chase, Donald (July 20, 1986). "$200,000 'ZABU' JOINS HIGH-PRICE LAUGH DERBY". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  26. ^ Kenny, Glenn (August 16, 2017). "Cult Film and In-Joke Hits the Comedy Clubs". The New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  27. ^ Michael Rechtshaffen, "The dusted-off comedy 'Chief Zabu' falls flat, even with a politically ambitious N.Y. developer", Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2016.
  28. ^ Langman, Larry (1998). Return to Paradise: A Guide to South Sea Island Films. Scarecrow Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780810832688. Real estate salesmen Allen Garfield and Zack Norman, who make a deal with Polynesian island chief Manu Tupou, face multiple problems in this ineptly produced comedy.
  29. ^ "2018 Winners – the Cutting Room International Short Film Festival". Cutting Room International Short Film Festival. Cutting Room. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  30. ^ "Zack Norman - Filmography - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. January 18, 2007. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  31. ^ "At-Home-With-the-Webbers - Cast, Crew, Director and Awards - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  32. ^ Easy Riders And Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind, published 1998 by Simon & Schuster, p. 187 ISBN 0 684 80996-6
  33. ^ Boxer, Sarah (June 17, 2004). "Finding Echoes of Iraq War in a Film About Vietnam". The New York Times.
  34. ^ "Jean-Michel Basquiat painting scores record $110.5M at auction". USA Today. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  35. ^ Freeman, Nate (October 7, 2016). "Sotheby's Contemporary Sale Nets $59.6 M., Beating High Estimate, With $13.1 M. Basquiat Leading the Way". Artnews. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  36. ^ Barnes, Mike (April 29, 2024). "Zack Norman, Actor in 'Romancing the Stone' and Henry Jaglom Films, Dies at 83". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  37. ^ Williams, Alex (May 26, 2024). "Zack Norman, actor who juggled multiple professions, dies at 83". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  38. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Zack Norman Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. 2013. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
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