Flowers will be placed today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of film producer Jerry Weintraub, whose credits include “Diner,” “The Karate Kid” and the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies.
Weintraub died Monday in Santa Barbara at age 77.
“In the coming days, there will be tributes about our friend Jerry Weintraub,” said George Clooney, who starred in the “Ocean’s Eleven” films.
“We’ll laugh at his great stories, and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it. But not today. Today our friend died.
“To his family and friends, Amal and I send our love,” Clooney said. “And to those who didn’t know him we send our deepest sympathy. You would have loved him.”
The New York native originally worked as a talent manager, representing stars such as Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and John Denver.
“To my great sorrow, my friend and former producer Jerry Weintraub has died suddenly,” director William Friedkin wrote on his Twitter page. “He was loved and admired. God bless him.”
Friedkin directed the 1980 Al Pacino crime drama “Cruising,” which Weintraub produced.
Ralph Macchio, who starred in the original “The Karate Kid,” wrote on Twitter, “So sad at loss of Jerry Weintraub, you were 1 of a kind, my friend. Last of a breed. So glad I got to be ‘that kid.”‘
Weintraub’s other producing credits include “Oh, God!,” “Nashville,” “My Stepmother is an Alien,” “Pure Country,” “The Specialist,” “Vegas Vacation” and 1998’s “The Avengers.”
He briefly led United Artists, but left to lead his own production house, known as Weintraub Entertainment Group, before eventually landing at Warner Bros.
He shared an Emmy Award for co-producing the climate-change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously,” and shared another as a co-producer of HBO’s Liberace drama “Behind the Candelabra.” He also won an Emmy in 1975 for co-producing the musical special “An Evening with John Denver.”
He was also an executive producer on the HBO limited-run series “The Brink.”
Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
