Jay Kanter, Agent to Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe and Production Executive, Dies at 97

Posted by Larita Shotwell on Saturday, August 31, 2024

Jay Kanter, agent to superstar Hollywood clients including Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, died Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 97.

His son, Adam Kanter of Independent Artist Group, remembered his father as someone who conducted his entire career with “integrity and kindness.”

Kanter also inspired Jack Lemmon’s character in Billy Wilder’s classic comedy “The Apartment.”

Jay Kanter served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and started out working at MCA, with mentoring help from Lew Wasserman. At just 22 years old, he was sent to pick up Brando at the train station and they became friends, with Brando becoming his longtime client.

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He went on to represent stars including Warren Beatty, Gene Kelly and Ronald Reagan.

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Kanter relocated to London when MCA bought Universal, where he oversaw production for the studio in Europe. When the studio shut down European operations, he founded a production company with Elliott Kastner and Alan Ladd, Jr. Kanter had a long relationship with Ladd working at 20th Century Fox, the Ladd Co. and MGM/UA, where he worked on films including “Chariots of Fire,” “Star Wars,” “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Norma Rae” and “Thelma and Louise.”

With his longtime collaborator Mel Brooks, Kanter worked on “Young Frankenstein,” “Silent Movie,” “High Anxiety,” “Spaceballs” and “Life Stinks.”

Kanter was part of a long-running weekly lunch group that included former Fox execs and filmmakers including Brooks, Ladd, Richard Donner, Freddie Fields, Paul Mazursky and Richard Benjamin. Kanter attended the group’s latest lunch at Porta Via in Beverly Hills this past Friday.

“Every Friday, a group assembles there for lunch. They may not be the hippest or youngest players in town, but they’re among the sagest and most accomplished, not to mention funniest. They have met once a week through decades’ worth of filmmaking, often with each other, and a mutual love of movies,” wrote Variety in 2007.

Kanter was married three times, briefly to actress Roberta Haynes; then to Judy Balaban, daughter of former Paramount president Barney Balaban; and finally to his wife of 49 years Kit Bennett Kanter, who died in 2014. His daughter Victoria Kanter Colombetti pre-deceased him.

He is survived by his children Dustin (and Debra) Bernard, Tom Bernard, Cydney Bernard, Amy Kanter (and Bob Thiele), Adam (and Brooke) Kanter and Michael (and Erica) Kanter along with his grandchildren Jason (and Andie) Colombetti, Matthew Colombetti, Owen Thiele (Jared Ellner), Sophie Bernard, Charlie Foster, Hannah Kanter, Kit Foster, Cleo Kanter, Grayson Kanter and Ryan Kanter.

Donations may be made to either the Motion Picture Television Fund or The Jules Stein Eye Institute.

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