Lawrence Turman, producer of films including Oscar winner “The Graduate,” and longtime chair of the Peter Stark Producing program at USC, died Saturday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. He was 96.
Turman’s producing career spanned 50 years, and he served as director of USC’s Peter Stark Producing program from 1991 until he retired in 2021 at age 94.
Born in Los Angeles in 1926, Turman graduated from UCLA and broke into the industry after answering an ad in Variety to work at the Kurt Frings agency. He represented actors, and after getting a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock through their friend Ernest Lehman, he was able to book four of his agency’s clients in “North By Northwest.”
Turman moved into producing, working on films including Judy Garland’s last film “I Could Go On Singing,” “The Best Man,” “The Great White Hope” and “Pretty Poison.”
After finding Charles Webb’s book “The Graduate,” he worked to put together financing and casting, finding composers Simon and Garfunkel and the young director Mike Nichols. “The Graduate” was nominated for seven Oscars including best picture, winning best director for Nichols. “He was proud of telling the story how every studio in town turned the project down, twice,” his family recounted.
In 1974, he formed Turman Foster Company with David Foster, and went on to make “The Drowning Pool,” “Heroes,” “Caveman,” John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” “Running Scared,” “The Getaway” reboot in 1994 and “The River Wild.”
Turman continued producing into the 2000s with films such as “American History X,” and also directed “Second Thoughts” and “Marriage of a Young Stockbroker.”
He ran USC’s Peter Stark program for nearly 30 years, and wrote a book about his experiences, “So You Want to Be a Producer.”
Turman was known for his strong relationships with writers, such as with William Goldman when he was writing “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
He is survived by three sons, John (Analuisa Bustamante), Andrew (Nancy Hyland) and Peter (Sheri Bernstein), and four grandchildren, Audrey Suzanne, Carter Isaac, Georgia Simone, Olivia Veranique, and two nieces, Katherine and Suzanna.
A service will be held at the Motion Picture Home at a later date.
Donations may be made to the Larry Turman Endowed Fund for the Peter Star Program – USC School of Cinematic Arts.
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