Arnold Stiefel

Stiefel was born in Philadelphia. There, his father, Alex Stiefel, owned the renowned Uptown Theater, the "crown jewel of the Philadelphia black entertainment scene."{{cite web|last=Gregg|first=Cherri|title=Renovations Begin At Philadelphia's Historic Uptown Theater|url=http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/12/12/renovations-begin-at-north-philadelphias-historic-uptown-theatre/|work=December 12, 2007|date=12 December 2011 |publisher=CBS|access-date=April 27, 2013}} Stiefel developed an early interest in entertainment through exposure to classic films and to iconic rhythm and blues artists such as The Supremes, Fats Domino, Etta James, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder.{{cite book|last=Bogdanov|first=Vladimir|title=All Music Guide To Soul|year=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|location=New York, New York}}

At 18, Stiefel moved from Philadelphia to New York City, where he joined Bantam Books in an entry-level position. He rose up the ranks, working with Jacqueline Susann, Gore Vidal, and Tom Wolfe,{{cite book|last=Seaman|first=Barbara|title=Lovely Me: The Life of Jaqueline Susann|year=1996|publisher=Seven Stories Press|location=New York|pages=361, 362|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VviD5GJyJrEC&q=arnold+stiefel+jacqueline+susann&pg=PA362|isbn=9781888363371}} and when he left Bantam, at 22, he was one of book publishing's youngest directors. After he was recruited by Paul Kohner, Stiefel moved from New York to Los Angeles, where he joined the Paul Kohner Agency as a literary agent. After a year, he left Kohner to found his own company, The Stiefel Office.

His first client was the then-unknown screenwriter Bo Goldman. Shortly after signing with Stiefel, Goldman wrote the script for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1975.{{cite web|title=1975 Winners/Acceptance Speeches|url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/048-21/|publisher=The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=2 May 2013}} Stiefel broadened his roster to include actors and musicians, signing Bette Midler, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner,{{cite book|last=Lambert|first=Gavin|title=Natalie Wood: A Life|url=https://archive.org/details/nataliewoodlife00lamb_0|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nataliewoodlife00lamb_0/page/320 320], 353, 355|isbn=978-0-375-41074-1 }} and Jeff Goldblum,{{cite web|last=Fruitkin|first=Alan|title=The Man Behind Midnight|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmMEAAAAMBAJ&q=the+advocate+arnold+stiefel&pg=PT29|work=November 11, 1997|date=11 November 1997|publisher=The Advocate|access-date=May 3, 2013}} among others. In 1978,{{cite book|last=Byron|first=Stuart|title=How 'Making Love' Got Made|year=1982|publisher=The Village Voice|location=New York|pages=37–41}} he paired his clients Goldman and Midler for The Rose, which was nominated for four Academy Awards{{cite web|title=51st Annual Academy Award Winners and Nominees|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1979|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=May 3, 2013}} and won three Golden Globes.{{cite web|title=The Rose - Awards|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079826/awards?ref_=tt_awd|publisher=IMDb|access-date=May 3, 2013}} Subsequently, The Stiefel Office was acquired by ICM; after 19 months Stiefel and his clients defected to the William Morris Agency, creating front-page headlines in Hollywood trade magazines.{{cite news|title=Archives|newspaper=Variety Magazine}} During his two years at William Morris, Stiefel worked with Cher, Val Kilmer, Jonathan Demme, and Matthew Broderick.{{cite journal|last=Kornbluth|first=Jesse|title=The Kid With The Million Dollar Smile | volume=18 | issue=12 | issn=0028-7369 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLoBAAAAMBAJ&q=arnold+stiefel+matthew+broderick&pg=PA51 | date=March 25, 1985|journal=New York Magazine| publisher=New York Media, LLC | access-date=May 5, 2013}}{{cite web|last=Christianson|first=Richard|title=Bringing Perversity To Chicago|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-29/entertainment/8602160403_1_movie-rights-chicago-first-film/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004010530/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-29/entertainment/8602160403_1_movie-rights-chicago-first-film/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 4, 2015|work=June 29, 1986|publisher=Chicago Tribume|access-date=May 5, 2013}}

In September 1983, Stiefel left William Morris to start his own management and production company, Stiefel Entertainment. He began managing Rod Stewart immediately thereafter, working to restore Stewart's credibility as a rock artist, which had suffered since the release of Stewart's disco-inflected 1978 hit, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" {{cite book|last1=Ewbank, Tim and|first1=Hilldred, Stafford|title=Rod Stewart: The New Biography|date=July 13, 2004|publisher=Platkus Books|location=New York|isbn=0749950277|page=179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xot_GxMHqVAC&q=arnold+stiefel+credibility+rod+stewart&pg=PA179}}

By 1988, Stewart had achieved an unprecedented level of success.{{cite web|last=Keaveney|first=Shaun|title=Rod Stewart|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/a35237a0-4f47-40a6-b6f3-1e786db23402|work=2012|publisher=BBC|access-date=May 4, 2013}} A US tour, originally scheduled for four months, was extended to 13, grossing $50 million, and Stewart's 1988 album, Out of Order, sold more than 2 million copies in North America within months of its release.{{cite book|last=Hildred, Stafford|first=and Tim Ewbank|title=Rod Stewart, The New Biography|year=2004|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|pages=179, 180}} In 1994, Stewart staged a concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, drawing an audience of 4.2 million people and setting a record for the largest live concert in history.{{cite web|title=Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/rod-stewart/timeline/|publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|access-date=May 22, 2013}} To date, Stewart has sold more than 150 million albums, including the Grammy winning{{cite web|title=2005 Grammy Award Winners|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/64119/47th-annual-grammy-awards-winners|date=March 2005|publisher=Billboard|access-date=May 5, 2013}} Great American Songbook records. Released between 2002 and 2010, the Songbook collection of five albums is the best selling series of all time.{{cite book|title=Guinness Book of World Records 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biWfNzQiR8EC&q=rod+stewart+over+100+million+records&pg=PA409|work=2012|year = 2012|publisher=Random House|isbn = 9780345534378|access-date=May 4, 2013}}

In 1984, Stiefel expanded the management roster of Stiefel Entertainment to include Prince, The Bangles, Gene Loves Jezebel, Morrissey,{{cite book|last1=Morrissey|title=Morrissey: Autobiography|date=December 3, 2013|publisher=Putnam Adult|isbn=978-0399171543|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qau-AQAAQBAJ&q=arnold+stiefel+morrissey&pg=PT186|quote=“…a man of strong imagination and unmatchable wit – affectionate but competitive – and an hour spent in his company would never be an hour lost.”}} Toni Braxton, and Guns N' Roses.{{cite book|last=Ro|first=Ronin|title=Prince: Inside the Music and The Masks|year=2011|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|page=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=11dZsE7iGdcC&q=arnold+stiefel+prince+guns+n+roses&pg=PA192|isbn=9781429950732}} In 1992, Stiefel co-founded Gasoline Alley Records,{{cite web|last=Rosen|first=Craig|title=Seagram Deal: Trade Weighs Impact|url=|work=April 22, 1995|publisher=Billboard}} a joint venture with MCA,{{cite web|last=Goldstein|first=Patrick|title=MCA Cements Relationships With Custom Labels|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-20-ca-1063-story.html|date=June 20, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 5, 2013}} most notably releasing Sublime's multi-platinum eponymous debut.{{allMusic | id=mn0000486047 |last=Bush|first=John|accessdate=May 13, 2013}}

As a motion picture producer, Stiefel's credits include the Warner Bros. film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, directed by Clint Eastwood, the film rights for which Stiefel acquired prior to the book's publication.{{cite web|title=Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/158860/Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil/details|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416234708/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/158860/Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil/details|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 16, 2009|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2009|access-date=May 13, 2013}} Additionally, he was a producer on Jonathan Demme's Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense,{{cite web|title=Stop Making Sense at IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088178/|publisher=IMDb|access-date=May 23, 2013}} and also produced Prince's Razzie award-winning Graffiti Bridge.{{cite web|last=Bream|first=Jon|title=After Delays and Reworking, Prince's Musical Set To Open|url=http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=11475056|work=November 1, 1990|publisher=Minneapolis Star Tribune|access-date=May 13, 2013}} Stiefel served as the executive producer on About Last Night..., the film adaptation of David Mamet's award-winning play, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and has produced several television specials for Rod Stewart.{{cite web|title=Arnold Stiefel Film Credits|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0830055/|publisher=IMDb|access-date=May 13, 2013}} He also produced Tonight's the Night, a 2003 musical based on Stewart's greatest hits, which ran for a year in London's West End. A new production of Tonight's the Night toured the UK beginning in January 2014.{{cite web|title=Rod Stewart's Catalog Breeds Musical|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/70656/rod-stewarts-catalog-breeds-musical|work=2003|publisher=Billboard|access-date=May 23, 2013}}

In 2002, Stiefel partnered with rock promoter Andrew Hewitt to reinvent Il Sole, a restaurant on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. With a clientele that included celebrities and industry heavyweights, Il Sole{{cite web|title=Il Sole|url=http://www.zagat.com/r/il-sole-west-hollywood|publisher=Zagat's|access-date=May 13, 2013}} became a "power restaurant", and retained its status until Stiefel and Hewitt sold it in 2011.{{cite web|last=Ginsberg|first=Merle|title=LA's New Power Restaurants|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/las-new-power-restaurants-179032|work=April 15, 2011|date=15 April 2011 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=May 13, 2013}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.rodstewart.com/#!All | Official website of Rod Stewart}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American music industry executives

Category:American film producers

Category:Businesspeople from Pennsylvania

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)