Charles Bluhdorn

Charles George Bluhdorn (born Karl Georg Blühdorn; September 20, 1926 – February 19, 1983) was an Austrian-born American industrialist. He built his fortune in luxury cigars and commodities such as zinc and sugar, and later through acquisition became CEO, chairman, and president of the Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures in 1966. Paramount was a former subsidiary of Gulf+Western Industries, which Bluhdorn purchased in 1956 when it was called the Michigan Plating and Stamping Company.

Charles George Bluhdorn
Born
Karl Georg Blühdorn

(1926-09-20)September 20, 1926
Vienna, Austria
DiedFebruary 19, 1983(1983-02-19) (aged 56)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationIndustrialist
Known forGulf+Western
SpouseYvette M. LeMarrec
Children2
RelativesHatuey de Camps (son-in-law)

By 1966, Bluhdorn had grown Gulf+Western to revenues estimated at $182 million; that year it was ranked 346th in the Fortune 500 list. The growth was largely through acquisition, including the takeovers of Stax Records in 1968, Sega in 1969, and Simon & Schuster in 1975.[1][2]

Bluhdorn became known in Hollywood for his gregarious and intense character. He appointed Frank Yablans as president of Paramount and Robert Evans as head of production, an uneasy team that eventually oversaw the release of hit films The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), and Chinatown (1974). He died suddenly in 1983 aged 56.[3]

Early life

Details of his upbringing are vague; according to Vanity Fair: "truth be told, Charlie wasn't elucidative about a lot of things, including whether he was Jewish, which he kept Hollywood guessing about by posting a sentry outside the men's room door."[4]

He was born in Vienna, Austria, to an Austrian Jewish mother Rosa Fuchs and father Paul Blühdorn.[5] Per Who's Who in Ridgefield (CT), he was considered such a "hellion" that his father sent the 11-year-old to an English boarding school for disciplining. At 16, he moved to New York, studying at City College of New York and Columbia University. In 1946, Bluhdorn went to work at the Cotton Exchange, earning $15 a week.[6] Other accounts say that he emigrated to the United States in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces.[3]

Career

Gulf+Western

In 1956, Bluhdorn acquired Michigan Plating and Stamping, a small auto parts company that eventually grew into Gulf+Western Industries, a conglomerate that ranked 61st in the Fortune 500 by 1981.[6] According to Robert Evans, in 1970 Bluhdorn had told him: "Imagine, twelve years ago I was walking the streets selling typewriters door to door."[7]

Holdings of Gulf+Western were blue-chip names such as Paramount Pictures, Madison Square Garden, and Simon & Schuster,[8] as well as less glamorous assets such as the South Puerto Rico Sugar Company, Pennsylvania Malleable Iron, and New Jersey Zinc.[9][10] Paramount was suggested to Bluhdorn by Sumner Redstone and the acquisition was encouraged by Paramount's head of publicity, Martin S. Davis.[11] It was during Gulf+Western's ownership of Paramount that it went from being number nine at the box office based upon total receipt sales, to number one. After the marketing success of Love Story in 1970, Bluhdorn appointed Frank Yablans as president of the studio and Robert Evans as head of production. Together they oversaw the studio in its heyday, releasing such hits as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Chinatown.[7] In 1974, Bluhdorn stepped down as chairman of Paramount and hired Barry Diller as Paramount's chairman and CEO.

Apart from Gulf+Western, Bluhdorn was a director and major shareholder of Bohack, Pueblo Supermarkets, and Ward Foods.[12][13]

Dominican Republic

Bluhdorn was very aware of the financial potential of the Dominican Republic and invested a significant amount of resources into its social and economic development. Bluhdorn is credited as being the father of the Dominican tourism industry.

In 1967, Gulf+Western paid $54 million for the South Puerto Rico Sugar Company. Most of the company's operations were in the Dominican Republic, where it owned the extensive Central Romana sugar mill in La Romana and 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) of land. Nearly half of the land was used to produce sugar cane and, at the peak of the cane-cutting season, the company employed 19,000 people, making it the country's largest private employer as well as the largest taxpayer and landowner. Gulf+Western acquired Consolidated Cigar in 1968 and later shifted the Canary Island cigar-making operations to La Romana. It also created Corporación Financiera Asociada (Cofinasa), a Dominican finance company. In 1969, the Dominican government and Gulf+Western Americas Corporation established an industrial free zone in La Romana. The zone was administered by Gulf+Western America's Operadora Zona Franca de La Romana subsidiary.[14]

As Gulf+Western had purchased Paramount in 1966, Bluhdorn had plans to turn the island into a moviemaking mecca. To sell the idea he constantly invited producers, directors, writers and movie stars, to get them to appreciate the natural beauty of the country.

In 1975, Gulf+Western developed 7,000 acres (28 km2) of the sugar mill's land into the Casa de Campo resort. Casa de Campo is home to three internationally renowned golf courses designed by Pete Dye – Teeth of the Dog, Dye Fore and Links.[16]

One of Bluhdorn's Dominican friends, Oscar de la Renta, was hired to do interior design for Casa de Campo[16] and licensed his men's wear line through Kayser-Roth (a subsidiary of Gulf+Western).

In 1976, after a meeting between Bluhdorn and Warner Communications CEO Steve Ross, the New York Cosmos played against Haiti’s Violette AC in Santo Domingo. The soccer game was sponsored by the Central Romana division of Gulf+Western Americas.[17]

Kayser-Roth owned the Miss Universe pageant via its acquisition of Pacific Mills. Pacific Mills had invented the pageant to promote its Catalina swimwear brand. Miss Universe 1977 was held in the Dominican Republic to promote tourism on the island.

Former Paramount Pictures set designer Roberto Copa designed the artist village of Altos de Chavón[16] in 1976 and it was built by Bluhdorn in the early 1980s.

Personal life

Bluhdorn married Yvette M. LeMarrec, formerly of Paris, in the 1950s.[4] He was a tireless executive who was once dubbed "The Mad Austrian of Wall Street." He maintained his position as chairman of Gulf+Western Industries until his death.[6] He was infamous (and widely imitated) for his cement-thick Austro-German accent, which has been lampooned in interviews by former collaborators such as Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Evans.

Bluhdorn was a friend of former president of the Dominican Republic Joaquín Balaguer and former leader of Cuba Fidel Castro. Bluhdorn met Castro at a meeting in Havana, which lasted for around seven hours. According to Michael Eisner in his autobiography, Work in Progress, during his first pilgrimage to the Dominican Republic, Bluhdorn proposed an idea he had for a picture: a Bad News Bears sequel set in Cuba, in which Castro hits the winning home run (he also proposed a film in which Sitting Bull meets Hitler).[18]

Death

On February 19, 1983, Bluhdorn died aged 56 of a heart attack on his corporate jet while returning home to New York City from his Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic.[19] His private funeral services were held at St. Mary's Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Among those who attended were friend and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.[6]

Personal properties

In February 2007, the Bedford, New York estate of his late wife, Yvette, was put on the market for the highest price ever asked for a Westchester County residence. Acquired in 1990 with 25 acres (100,000 m2), Mrs. Bluhdorn expanded the estate to 70 acres (280,000 m2). It included a restored 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2), 23-room Georgian mansion built in the 1920s, another six-bedroom home of 8,000 square feet (740 m2), several guest houses and two pools.[20]

Legacy

In 1983, Donald Gaston established the Charles G. Bluhdorn Prize in Economics at Tufts University in Boston in memory of Bluhdorn. It is awarded annually to an undergraduate majoring in economics who has demonstrated outstanding scholastic ability.[21] The Charles G. & Yvette Bluhdorn Charitable Trust was a multi-million dollar charity overseen by their children. Between 2007 and 2013, the fund was spent down, and as of 2019 lists less than $3,000 in assets.[22]

His tumultuous relationship with Paramount executive Robert Evans was documented in Evans's 1994 biographical book The Kid Stays in the Picture and in the 2002 film of the same title, as well as the 2022 series The Offer, where Bluhdorn is portrayed by Burn Gorman.[7]

References
  1. James, Caryn. "Paramount Pictures, From the Peak". New York Times, June 3, 2011. Retrieved October 11 2023
  2. "The Leadership Legacy Of Hollywood Boss Charlie Bluhdorn". Forbes, May 7, 2015. Retrieved October 11 2023
  3. Blair, William (20 February 1983). "Charles G. Bluhdorn, the Head of Gulf + Western, Dies at 56". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  4. Anson, Robert Sam (April 2001). "Hurricane Charlie". Vanity Fair.
  5. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather By Mark Seal, page 40
  6. "Who's Who in Ridgefield CT A-F". Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  7. "Kid Stays In the Picture, The: Who Is Robert Evans?". Cinema.com. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  8. "Charles G. Bluhdorn". Leadership. Harvard Business School. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  9. Slocum, David. "The Leadership Legacy Of Hollywood Boss Charlie Bluhdorn". The Berlin School Of Creative Leadership. Forbes. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  10. "In Business: Foundry Acquires Pennsylvania Malleable Iron". The Morning Call. January 23, 1969.
  11. Bart, Peter. "Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex)" NY: Weinstein Books, 2011
  12. "G.&". The New York Times. November 21, 1977.
  13. "People and Business". The New York Times. October 19, 1972.
  14. "G. & W.'s Role in the Caribbean". The New York Times. June 24, 1975.
  15. Rowlands, Paul (2013-01-13). "SORCERER (William Friedkin, 1977)". Money Into Light. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  16. Treaster, Joseph (December 28, 1986). "A DOMINICAN RESPITE FROM REALITY". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  17. "El día que Pelé enloqueció el Estadio Olímpico de Santo Domingo". diariolibre.com. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  18. "Top Mouse". The New York Times. November 8, 1998.
  19. Blair, William G. (20 February 1983). "Charles G. Bluhdorn, the Head of Gulf + Western, Dies at 56". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  20. "BRADY PUNTS". New York Post. February 8, 2007. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  21. "Charles G. Bluhdorn Prize in Economics, 1983". Tufts Digital Library. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  22. "Charles G & Yvette Bluhdorn Charitable Trust IRS 990". Pro Publica. 9 May 2013.

Further reading
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