R.I.P. Steven Reuther

Film producer and executive Steven Reuther has died at age 58. Reuther died yesterday afternoon at his Santa Monica home after a long illness. Reuther, who started off in the WMA mailroom in the late 1970s, went on to become a film executive at Galactic Films, where he helped develop 9 1/2 Weeks and at Vestron Pictures, where he executive produced Dirty Dancing. He then partnered with Arnon Milchan at New Regency films for 5 years where he developed Sidney Lumet’s Family Business, the Danny Devito/Michael Douglas picture War of the Roses, and Lumet’s Q and A. He went on to produce and executive produce more than 35 films in partnership with Milchan, and later Michael Douglas, including the 1990 worldwide smash Pretty Woman. 1998, Reuther created Bel Air Pictures; a co-venture with Warner Brothers Studios and Canal Plus land became Bel Air’s Chairman and CEO. There, he produced the film he was most proud of, Pay It Forward, and also shepherded Proof of Life, Sweet November, Rock Star and Collateral Damage. He most recently produced the 2009 romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. Reuther’s family is planning to establish a scholarship in his name at UCLA’s film school.