Gerald “Jerry” Rubin, who went from the William Morris Agency to become VP Business Affairs at CBS and was an influential longtime entertainment lawyer, has died. He was 93.
His client and friend Jerry Leider told Deadline today that Rubin died January 31 of heart failure in Los Angeles.
A Bronx native who grew up in Manhattan, Rubin served in the Army Intelligence Services during the Korean War and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School before launching a 50-year career specializing in television and motion picture law.
Rubin started out in the William Morris Agency’s New York office in the early 1960s before moving to the CBS TV network, first in New York and then to Los Angeles as VP Business Affairs. While at CBS, he developed an extensive list of terms and conditions for TV pilot and series production agreements between the network and Hollywood studios — packaging agents, stars and independent producers.
Most of these remain as standard clauses in similar agreements throughout the TV production industry.
After leaving CBS, he continued to represent a number of high-profile independent TV and motion picture production companies including the Johnny Carson Company, Kushner/Locke, dick clark productions, ITC Entertainment and others.
Rubin is survived by Estela Donoso, his second wife; three children by his first marriage, Margaret Rubin, Martha Francis and Bill Rubin; and four grandchildren.