Bert Fields: Powerhouse Showbiz Lawyer For Cruise, Weinsteins, George Lucas, Michael Jackson, Beatles & Many Others 93 – Deadline
Bert Field, an unrelentingly loyal entertainment lawyer whose clients include Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Tom Cruise, George Lucas, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and many others in thousands of cases in Hollywood, has died. He was 93.
His rep told Deadline that Campos died at his home in Malibu with his longtime wife Barbara Guggenheim by his side.
A Glusker partner at Greenberg’s Claman & Machtinger LLP, Fields has tried several landmark cases in the entertainment and communications industries over the past several decades. He has presented many major Hollywood studios and talent agencies in their individual careers and other such bold names as Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, James Cameron, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Mike Nichols, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Silver, Madonna and writers Mario Puzo. James Clavell, Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler.
Bert Fields Q&A: Disney Ban, George Lucas, James Cameron, Harvey Weinstein, Napoleon & The Next Big Thing
Herve Weinstein reported The New York Times in 2005, “In the sports business, walking in a fight without Bert Fields is like walking in the arctic without a jacket.”
A supreme artist and a meticulous raconteur, he was as much a lover of history as he was of Hollywood’s inner workings. Decommissioning the journal in 2020, Fields was fiercely proud of his literary studies with works on Shakespeare’s debate authority, Richard III and Elizabeth I and a novel on Napoleon & Josephine, among others over the years.
A fertile field for the writer. when Companion The author and client Puzo died working on gender He finished the fields. Puzo, who admired Campo’s writing style in his legal briefs, left notes for Campos in The Borgias so that they could complete a historical novel.
Although Fields continued to work until recently, the attorney had been in declining health after contracting Covid in 2020.
“For 40 years, we’ve been grateful for Bertie’s brilliance, poise, and charm,” said Bob Baradaran, Managing Partner at Greenberg Glusker, where he spent most of his career. “Bert was a dear colleague, friend, and mentor who trained an era of outstanding lawyers. We are blessed to know and work with such a truly wonderful lawyer and person.
Many high-profile transactions and incidents included repping Katzenberg in the news of his divorce from Disney, Lucas in negotiations over Disney’s theme park, and Jackson in terms of his contract with Sony Music. Fields also won a grand prize for The Beatles and Apple Corps on the theme beatlemania musically, and another later for George Harrison against his former agent. He represented the principal in the appeal of God Buchwaldv. chief case over Coming to America and Beatty’s fight to keep a few minutes of film from his film’s bond ligula
Said Cruise, a long time customer: “Bert Agri was a noble man; an extraordinary man. He had a powerful personality, a keen sense of humor and a charm that endeared himself to everyone in his company. I loved him and always have. It is a privilege to be his friend.
Fields also repped DreamWorks SKG and Steven Spielberg in overcoming an application for an injunction against the exhibition of the Oscar-winning 1997 film friendship.
Watching Bert was like watching a skilled surgeon, Katzenberg once said.
The fields of the famous “disney” were banned by Michael Eisner, the boss at the time.
“I think over Lucas, I’m not sure,” he told Deadline in a 2015 interview. “But I was denied that Jeffrey Katzenberg was really paid. He was working at Disney at the time, and he asked me to lunch, and he said, “Look, I’m sorry about that, and I’ll try and work it out.” and he did I was getting hit by all the main entertainment lawyers against Disney. I was going to say that if they shut me down, none of us will do anything with Disney. But I didn’t have to do it because Jeffrey Eisner got to accept it.”
Fields also featured a key figure in Antonio Pellicano, a disfigured and convicted private investigator specializing in digging up the dirt on Hollywood for whatever material was needed, often illegally.
“I lost my friend, colleague and mentor,” said Greenberg Glusker partner Pierce O’Donnell. “An American original, Bert was simply a lawyer of his age in the same league as Clarence Darrow and Louis Nizer. Always a simple man, Bertius lived his life according to his law. Indefatigable, Bert was a true Renaissance man: lawyer, author, historian, actor, raconteur, recording artist, and music fanatic who knew every Cole Porter lyric. I miss Bert more than words can express.
Bertram Fields was born on March 31, 1929, in Los Angeles. After going to UCLA, he graduated with great praise from the Harvard School, where he was editor Harvard Law Review. After serving as a first lieutenant in the US Air Force during the Korean War, he began practicing law. He later taught law at Stanford Law School and debated at Harvard every year.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara Guggenheim, a noted art consultant; his son, James the Elder; his nephew, Michael Lane; and Annabelle his niece. A private family service will be held later this week, with a public memorial to follow later this summer.
Ted Johnson contributed to this report.
