Phil Berg (talent agent)
{{Short description|Co-founder of the Belg-Allenberg talent agency}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Phil Berg
| birth_name = Phillip Jay Berg
| birth_date = February 15, 1902
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = February 1, 1983 (age 80)
| death_place =
| education = B.A. University of Pennsylvania
| known_for = co-founding the Berg-Allenberg talent agency.
| spouse = {{ubl
| {{marriage|Leila Hyams|1927|1977|reason=died}}
| Joan Hartley
}}
}}
Philip Jay Berg (February 15, 1902 – February 1, 1983) was an American talent agent who co-founded, with Bert Allenberg, the Berg-Allenberg talent agency, he was known for his movie package deals, a concept that changed Hollywood in the 1930s, he represented an empire of dozens of actors, directors and writers.
Biography
Berg was born in New York City on February 15, 1902.{{Cite news|title=Phil Berg, a pioneer talent agent who represented such Hollywood stars as Clark Gable, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 80 |work=United Press International|date=February 3, 1983 |url= https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/02/03/Phil-Berg-a-pioneer-talent-agent-who-represented-such/4386413096400/ }} He was of Jewish descent.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IhuPDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Phil+Berg%22&pg=PA276|first=Neil|last=Gabler|title=An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood|pages=276 |publisher=Anchor Books|date=September 8, 1989|isbn=978-0385265577}} He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1924, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a talent agent, becoming a millionaire by the age of 26.{{Cite news|title= He's One Man Who Quit Hollywood |newspaper=Daytona Beach Morning Journal|date=May 12, 1953 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19590512&id=_48tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7MkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=749,1972411 }} In 1927, he partnered with Bert Allenberg to form the Berg-Allenberg talent agency. Berg created the concept of the "package deal" where he would find a script, a writer, actors, and a director; and then sold the entire package to a producer.{{Cite news|title= Phil Berg, 80, Talent Agent, Pioneered Movie Packages |newspaper=The New York Times|date= February 4, 1983|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/04/obituaries/phil-berg-80-talent-agent-pioneered-movie-packages.html }} He represented such stars as Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball, Wallace Beery, Walter Brennan, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine,"U's Feldman Demurrer Is Sustained by Judge", The Film Daily July 2, 1948, p2"Hollywood", The Film Daily March 4, 1948, p2 Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, Buster Keaton, Alan Ladd, Charles Laughton, and Edward G. Robinson; directors Frank Capra, Victor Fleming, Vincente Minnelli, Jean Renoir, and William Wellman; and writers Michael Arlen, James Hilton, Dalton Trumbo, and Rodgers and Hart. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He retired in 1947 to pursue his passion in archaeology. In December 1949, the Berg-Allenberg Agency was acquired by the William Morris Agency.
Personal life
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{Cite web
|url = http://backup.explorers.org/res_col/collections/deceased.pdf
|title = Deceased Members of The Explorers Club, 1904 to 23 May 2007
|website = explorers.org
|publisher = The Explorers Club
|access-date = November 17, 2020
|page = 5
}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Phil}}
Category:American people of Jewish descent
Category:American talent agents
Category:Place of death missing