Louis “Lou” Pitt has spent the past 56 years working with some of Hollywood’s best-known celebrities and, along the way, produced movies and television programs we’ve enjoyed.
But the entertainment executive spent a portion of his formative years right here on the Suncoast.
“We moved to Sarasota in December 1950 when I was 10 years old,” he said. “My father passed away a year or so later, and by the time I finished middle school, my mother thought it would be a good idea for me to attend the Kentucky Military Institute (KMI), at least for my first year of high school. I ended up attending all four years.”
KMI’s fall and spring terms were spent on the military school’s main campus near Louisville, Kentucky, while the winter season was spent on the winter campus in downtown Venice.
“I remember Venice as being a very friendly town, which was one of the things I loved about it,” he said. “It was very small in those days so when we weren’t in class, we were mainly walking around or going to the drugstore on Venice Avenue. My main sport activity at KMI was playing baseball.”
Pitt played Little League baseball in Sarasota with a friend named Jay Lundstrom. As it turned out, Lundstrom also attended KMI and they ended up rooming together most of their four years.
“Jay is largely the reason I ended up playing baseball at KMI because he badgered one of the coaches when I got started in Little League to select me for the team.”
Their senior year, Pitt was selected captain of the team, but refused to accept the role unless his best friend joined him as co-captain.
“I remember the Venice High School team had a pitcher, the best player they had,” Pitt recalled. “His name was Jon Barry Wimbish, I will never forget. He was a left-hander and boy, was he good. Venice used to beat us and Sarasota all the time. But I ended up getting a triple off of him, which was one of my great highlights in Venice.”
During the summer of his senior year, Pitt’s mother moved to California and he followed her there after graduating from KMI in 1958. He was drafted into the Army, but eventually was assigned to a military police reserve unit in Van Nuys, California.
He also pursued his love of baseball and worked out with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but in the end, chose to follow a different path. He enrolled at California State University, Northridge where he majored in theater and minored in English.
“Theater clearly was my interest, but I didn’t know at that point where it would go,” Pitt said. “Living in California, and the friends I began to travel with, were all in some way a friend away from someone who was a producer or executive or otherwise involved in the business. All of the entertainment in those days was based in Los Angeles.”
It took some time, but in 1964, with the help of a friend’s dad, Pitt got a job working in the mailroom of the Creative Management Agency, one of the premiere talent management agencies in the industry.
“I started in the mail room, but it was the best learning experience I ever had. You get to learn the language, who’s important and who isn’t. You learn the basic mechanics of how things work. It was a great job. I got paid very little, but was grateful for the opportunity.
After six months at his entry-level job, Pitt became an assistant to legendary agent, producer and studio executive Alan Ladd, Jr., who is perhaps best known for producing movies like “Braveheart” and “Star Wars.”
“You never have just one mentor, but you always have that one teacher or instructor, that person who motivates you to the next level. Laddie was that kind of person. A wonderful human being and very generous in terms of taking the time to mentor me. He provided a really good education about relationships, how to nurture them and how to work at it.”
During the next 34 years, Pitt worked for a few agencies in Hollywood and helped to manage the careers of actors such as Christopher Plummer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dudley Moore, Rod Serling, Bruce Lee, Jessica Lange and Howie Mandel.
In 1998, he formed his own management company, The Pitt Group, and also created a producing company called Alton Road Productions. He and his team currently represent a number of clients and also have movies and television programs in the works and as well as those produced.
Pitt said that while the entertainment industry is competitive and not one that comes easily, it has afforded him the opportunity to make many close friendships over the years.
Friends like actor Christopher Plummer.
“We’ve worked together for 45 years and he is truly a special friend. He got started in the business at 17. He initially wanted to be pianist, but found that acting was more attractive to him. He works hard at his craft and loves the preparation of it. Other actors look to him as the standard and have admiration for his commitment and his talent. He has old-fashioned manners in a good way.”
Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger required a lot of time and effort, Pitt said, because the actor and former governor is so much in demand.
“When you represent people, it’s not a 9 to 5 job. There’s work on Saturdays and Sundays, and when you are in the service business, you’ve got to be available.”
After graduating from KMI, Lundstrom said he lost touch with his former roommate.
“One day, I read an article in USA Today that said Dudley Moore had had a big fight with his girlfriend and had no comment, but referred all questions to his agent, Lou Pitt. I wondered if that could be the same Louie from our military school days? I managed to track him down and he we had a good chat that night. We have stayed in touch since then. He’s a good guy and deserves everything he’s gotten in life.”
Pitt met his wife of 53 years, Berta, on a blind date. They have two children, a daughter in the yoga business in Los Angeles, and a son working in New York City, currently as a unit production manager on a HBO series called “The Gilded Age.”
The entertainment industry was undergoing a radical transformation when Pitt first began working in the business in 1964.
“Studios in the days of Louis B. Mayer and Adolph Zukor signed their actors to long-term contracts. Nobody forced you to sign, but for some actors, it was like prison because they were handed scripts and told what movies they would appear in. They had little to say until people like Betty Davis, Gregory Peck and John Wayne stepped up and said no. It took a while, but eventually, the old system was no longer relevant. It’s more entrepreneurial today and people have the freedom to do what they want to do, offering more opportunities to get their projects made. And the business is continuing to evolve with streaming companies like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon producing and distributing their own content.”
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November 09, 2020 at 12:00PM
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