Bert Fields
Bert Fields | |
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Born | Bertram Harris Fields[1] March 31, 1929 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Died | August 7, 2022 Malibu, California, U.S. | (aged 93)
Education | |
Occupations |
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Spouses | |
Children | 1 |
Bertram Harris Fields (March 31, 1929 – August 7, 2022) was an American lawyer noted for his work in the field of entertainment law. He represented many of the leading film studios, as well as numerous celebrities, and lectured at both Stanford and Harvard Law Schools. Fields was also a musician and an author of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Early life and legal career
Fields was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Mildred (Rubin), a ballet dancer, and F. Maxwell Fields, an eye surgeon. His family was
Fields represented
Fields also represented
Fields defended the Church of Scientology after many of its celebrity members, including Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Chick Corea, were boycotted in Germany, where the religion is not legally recognized. He wrote an open letter to Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the International Herald Tribune comparing the boycotts to Nazi book burnings.[5]
Fields represented Bob and Harvey Weinstein through years of skirmishes between Miramax and its corporate owner, Disney, rarely making public statements until he arranged the brothers' departure, in 2005, without litigation.[6][7]
In January 2008, Fields, representing Tom Cruise, stated that an unauthorized biography (by British author Andrew Morton) was full of "tired old lies" or "sick stuff."[8]
In June 2008,
On March 13, 2012, Bert Fields, attorney for the estate of Mario Puzo, filed a counterclaim against Paramount Pictures, who sued the estate to stop the author's son, Anthony Puzo, from publishing a new sequel to his father's classic Mafia saga, "The Godfather." Fields was quoted as saying, "Mario Puzo brought vast wealth to Paramount at a time when they desperately needed it. Now that he's gone, Paramount's trying to deprive his children of the rights he specifically reserved. I promised Mario I'd protect his kids from this kind of reprehensible conduct. Paramount wanted a war, and they're going to get one."[12]
In April 2014, Harvard Law School announced that Fields made a gift of $5 million to Harvard Law School to endow the Bertram Fields Professorship of Law.[13]
Fields continued to represent Bob Weinstein, who was accused of sexual harassment on October 17, 2017, by The Mist film producer Amanda Segel, who worked for Weinstein's Dimension Films.[14] Fields denied the accusations, stating that "It is absolutely not true" and "What she is claiming is bogus" and that "There was nothing that came anywhere near sexual harassment". He further stated that "That's not Bob Weinstein. It's Harvey Weinstein, but it sure as hell isn't Bob Weinstein. I've known him for many years. It's all because of what Harvey's done"."[15] Fields and other attorneys from Greenberg Glusker represented The Weinstein Company from 2005 to December 2017 when it dropped them as a client over unpaid bills.[16]
Summing Up: A Professional Memoir
In 2021, Fields published Summing Up: A Professional Memoir, (
Other tales are much lighter in tone; for instance, Gore Vidal turned to Fields when a movie studio refused to credit his work on the screenplay for the 1987 film The Sicilian. Fields won his case, but then Vidal, after seeing the movie, exclaimed, "Keep my name off that piece of s***!"
Fields also fired Donald Trump as a client, he said, because he was disgusted by a deceitful strategy that the real estate mogul employed.
He began writing books, he said, after Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, encouraged him after reading one of his legal briefs.
Novels and historical writing
In 2018, Fields published Gloriana: Exploring The Reign Of Elizabeth I. (
Fields introduces readers to aspects of the queen that they may not have heard before. He finds plenty of intrigues to challenge conventional notions of the queen. Beautiful, full-color portraits from the National Portrait Gallery in London and a timeline of the queen's life round out this volume. Its 450-plus pages belie what a quick read it actually is, making it a perfect primer for those interested in the Good Queen Bess.
In September 2015, Fields published Shylock: His Own Story. (
In 2015, Fields published Destiny: A Novel Of Napoleon & Josephine. (
In 2011, Fields was awarded the Crystal Quill Award by the Shakespeare Center Of Los Angeles for his work on William Shakespeare.[18]
In 2005 Fields published the non-fiction book Players: The Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare, which deals with the authorship of the plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare.[4]
Having read English history for years as a hobby, and not satisfied with the books written about
Although he started with a "gut feeling" that Richard was innocent of murdering his nephews, the Princes in the Tower; Fields claimed to have investigated the facts as he would have for a client he was representing, and he structured the book like a lawyer's brief, identifying the evidence and then drew the logical implications from the facts. In the same way as in a brief, he discussed the weaknesses in earlier authors' treatments of the same subject, being particularly critical of Alison Weir and her book The Princes in the Tower.[19]
The conclusion Fields reached is that the probability that the princes were, in fact, murdered is about 50% to 70%, and if they were, the probability that Richard did it is in the same range, so the logical probability that Richard is guilty is 25% to 49%, which is less than 50-50. Fields says
Fields also penned two novels, published under the pseudonym "D. Kincaid": The Sunset Bomber (1986, published by Corgi Books in London) which was also published under the name Final Verdict (1988), and The Lawyer's Tale (1993).[20][21][22]
Open letter to the German chancellor
In 1997, Fields conceived an open letter to then-
As a teacher
Fields taught at Stanford Law School and lectured annually at Harvard Law School.[27]
Musician
A serious music enthusiast, Fields performed with his good friend and client George Harrison. He performed and recorded professionally as a singer and vibraphonist with Les Deux Love Orchestra, led by Bobby Woods.[28]
Celebrating his 92nd birthday, he released his first single, a cover of the
Actor
In 1967, Fields portrayed prosecutor "Hal Davies" on an episode of Dragnet. Fields was the real-life lawyer for the show's creator and lead actor, Jack Webb.[31]
Personal life
Fields is noted as having "cultivated a dapper and urbane image, based in part on his fondness for English tailoring and English history", according to the Los Angeles Times.[32]
He married three times. After graduating from law school, Fields married his college sweetheart, Amy Markson, with whom he had one son, James Elder Fields (born 1955).[33] In 1960, he married fashion model Lydia Minevitch (daughter of musician Borrah Minevitch) whose divorce he had handled two years prior.[33] She died of lung cancer in 1986, after 27 years of marriage.[33] He met his third wife, art expert Barbara Guggenheim, after she hired him to defend her when, in 1989, she was sued by Sylvester Stallone; they married in 1991.[33]
His son, James, holds a BA from Wesleyan, and a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. He resides in Hawaii. He is also survived by a grandson, Michael Lane Fields, born in 1984,[34] and a granddaughter, Annabelle Fields, born in 2005.[35]
Death
Fields died at his home in Malibu, California, from complications of long-COVID-19 on August 7, 2022, at age 93.[1][36][37]
Bertram Fields was buried at a private service at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles.
Memorial
On October 2, 2022 a memorial was held for Bert Fields at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center. Speakers included Tom Cruise, Rich Eisen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Susan Estrich, Dustin Hoffman and his daughter Ali Hoffman, Michael Ovitz, Elaine May, members of his family, and his wife, Barbara Guggenheim.
See also
- U.S. Supreme Court. Fields' role in some of the key hearings is explored at length. According to the plaintiffs, Fields' fee (divided among many attorneys) reached $1 million a month before his recusal.[39]
References
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
- ^ O'Neill, Ann. "The 'Energizer Bunny' of Hollywood lawyers". CNN. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ a b Patten, Dominic (August 28, 2015). "Bert Fields Talks Disney Ban, George Lucas, James Cameron, Harvey Weinstein, Napoleon & The Next Big Thing". Deadline. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- )
- ^ "Bert Fields – The Last Consigliere". Lawdragon. October 1, 2005. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ Weiner, Allison Hope (May 15, 2005). "Telling Hollywood It's Out of Order". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ "Cruise Scientology video leaked". January 16, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2021 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Playboy Interview: Drew Pinsky". Playboy. March 7, 2010. Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ "Tom Cruise Proves Sanity By Calling Shrink A Nazi". Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ "Thecelebritytruth.com". thecelebritytruth.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ "Bertram Fields donates $5 million to Harvard Law School to create professorship". Harvard Law Today. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 18, 2017). "Bob Weinstein Denies Sexual Harassment Claims From 'The Mist' Showrunner". Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ "Bob Weinstein's lawyer says he couldn't be more different from brother Harvey Weinstein". ABC News. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ Cullins, Ashley (December 14, 2017). "Lawyer Bert Fields Drops Weinstein Co. Over Unpaid Bills". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ Siegemund-Broka, Austin (January 27, 2015). "Hollywood Legal Hires: Top Attorney Publishes Historical Romance Novel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ Angeles, The Shakespeare Center of Los. "The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles CRYSTAL QUILL AWARDS". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0060987381.
- ISBN 0671604449.
- OCLC 24810303.
- ISBN 0679407723.
- ^ Masters, Kim (February 10, 1997). Hollywood's Glitterati Circle the Wagons", Time
- ^ Drozdiak, William (January 14, 1997). U.S. Celebrities Defend Scientology in Germany, The Washington Post, p. A11
- ^ Germany, America and Scientology, The Washington Post, February 1, 1997
- ^ Bonfante, Jordan; van Voorst, Bruce (February 10, 1997). "Does Germany Have Something Against These Guys?", Time
- ^ "Greenberg Glusker". Archived from the original on February 2, 2017.
- ^ "Meet The Les Deux Love Orchestra!". lesdeuxloveorchestra.com.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Bert Fields – Back In The Saddle – Les Deux Love Orchestra – Produced by Bobby Woods". Retrieved May 14, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Hollywood Power Attorney Bert Fields Kicks off Singing Career by Covering Gene Autry Classic". The Hollywood Reporter. May 29, 2021.
- ^ Handel, Jonathan (August 8, 2022). "Bert Fields, Litigator to the Stars, Dies at 93". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ "The rise and fall of Bert Fields", by Gary Abrahms, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2006. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Auletta, Ken (July 24, 2016). "Hollywood Ending". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ ""Bertram Fields", Greenburg Glusker. Retrieved May 15, 2019". Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ "www.ariel-leve.com/all-articles/sunday-times-magazine/interviews/bert-fields/". www.ariel-leve.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik (August 8, 2022). "Bert Fields Dies: Powerhouse Showbiz Lawyer For Tom Cruise, Weinsteins, George Lucas, Michael Jackson, Beatles & Many Others Was 93". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- ^ "Bert Fields Memorial: Jeffrey Katzenberg, Tom Cruise, Elaine May And Dustin Hoffman Say Goodbye To A Fearless Friend". Deadline. October 2, 2022.
- ^ Clark, Andrew (September 30, 2009). "Disney wins Winnie the Pooh copyright case". The Guardian.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
External links
- Los Angeles Times article "The names cited in an indictment of private eye Anthony Pellicano read like a road map leading to Bertram Fields and his famous clients"
- New York Times article about Bert Fields and Anthony Pellicano "Detective's Employer Knew About His Sleuthing Device"
- New Dispute Over Firing of Publisher
- Article in Hollywood Reporter profiling Bertram Fields
- Marmont Lane, publisher of Bert Fields books.
- Video of Bert Fields Memorial.